Not since the early 1800s has Great Britain seen the number of soldiers in its army reduced to the levels now planned -- as part of an austerity scheme to rein in catastrophe-grade spending.
Seventeen major army units are getting axed en route to slashing the number of regular soldiers from 102,000 to 82,000. An aircraft carrier and a fleet of jets are also on the chopping block.
In this process of downplaying if not ignoring the single most important reason why a country's government exists -- national security -- news accounts say that Britain may become unable to fight simultaneously in two major operations, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is every reason to believe the massive downsizing of the military will give Britain's enemies cause to think that they can, with greater impunity, attack British individuals or British interests abroad. You cannot fight traditional battles nor cowardly terrorists with troops and equipment you do not possess.
But you also cannot pay for reckless social welfare entitlements with money you don't have. And Britain, buried deep in the costs of "free" programs such as its socialized National Health Service, is gutting its defenses to sustain the illusion that it can afford to maintain its welfare state.
Not that America should be tsk-tsking in Britain's direction about that -- and certainly not that Britain should be looking to us to shore up its defensive capabilities.
Remember our own $16 trillion debt -- the one on which we have to pay hundreds of billions of dollars annually just in interest?
Well, last year's deal in Congress to reduce spending as a tradeoff to raise the non-limiting "debt limit," plus the subsequent failure of Congress to agree on a long-term deficit reduction plan, are leading our country toward roughly $1 trillion in defense cuts in coming years.
Do we really think our own numerous enemies aren't paying attention to that?
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently upheld Obamacare, the budget-busting new entitlement program, and prospects for its repeal even if Mitt Romney is elected president in November are slim.
Oh, and we're still borrowing money to pay for all sorts of other things we can't afford, such as farm subsidies and "green energy" schemes. And we have not even seriously begun to reform other entitlement programs -- most notably Medicare -- that are dragging down our economy and saddling future generations with levels of debt from which it is difficult to imagine them escaping.
So we can lament those bells that are tolling ever more loudly for Britain's ability to defend itself. But as America, too, prioritizes social welfare programs above national security, we might want to save some sympathy for ourselves as the dreadful ring draws closer to our own shores.