Nukes were an effective tool when we dropped them on Japan, and they probably did save a lot of soldiers' lives (at the minor cost of a couple hundred thousand Japanese civilians who had nothing to do with any of Japan's transgressions against us).

Nowadays, everyone's got 'em, and that's why nukes will never be used again. Payback would be a bitch, to say the least.

Like FP said, there is no real threat to our borders from foreign attack. Our military is kept excessively strong because it employs a lot of people and keeps the "freedom of speech" flowing to the defense contractors.

If the military were fighting for our freedom, they would be storming Capitol Hill.