>It's easy to look virtuous when you have other countries handle the 'immoral' military stuff,[...] Europe is a 24-year old trust fund kid working in a vegan commune

Europe has a higher industrial output than the US. In Unterlüß a town of 3500 people, Rheinmetall makes about 50% as many 155mm shells as the entire US makes annually. There's a reason your trust fund metaphor takes place in Brooklyn.

You might also want to remember that article 5 was invoked once, and it wasn't by Europe.

Ahhh apparently Europe is more immoral than OP thought! Good job guys.

Kidding aside, if Europe is this hidden powerhouse as you claim, then its even more odd to be begging the Americans for defense support/leadership from across the Atlantic, and still be importing natural gas from the "evil" Russians while supposedly in a fight with them. Seems to undermine your point no?