Honest question.
Do US citizens honestly think National Defence os a top priority above all else? If so, why?
The reason I ask is because its quite rare to find any other democratic country, barring Israel, that mentions national defence in almost every discussion about most things
Consider the Cold War (which really wasn't that long ago) where there was a real possibility of the destruction of the country, or 9/11 where the country banded together to fight a perceived threat. Keeping the United States as a top world power is obviously going to be of interest to Americans, and national defense is a part of that.
Ultimately, being able to guarantee that you can defend yourself ensures you can seek out your other values in life, whatever they might be. In fact, I'd argue that many countries have the privilege to not even think about their national defense too much because they rely on American military guarantees for protecting their borders and trade.
Americans certainly do quibble about the size and scale of the American military machine and its role in the world though. This is a very frequent topic of discussion in political discussions with a number of friends.