Americans treat overseas military bases as an unquestioned normal good

Evidence

Most Americans rarely think about U.S. military bases overseas. Since the end of World War II and the early days of the Cold War, when the United States built or acquired most of its overseas bases, Americans have considered it normal to have U.S. military installations in other countries, on other people’s land. The presence of our bases overseas has long been accepted unquestioningly and treated as an obvious good, essential to national security and global peace. Perhaps these bases register in our consciousness when there’s an antibase protest in Okinawa or an accident in Germany. Quickly, however, they’re forgotten. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 10

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the cognitive invisibility of infrastructure theme from ‘Grafting & Growth’ — taken-for-granted systems.