Let me deal with your last two questions first because they are frivolous and not worthy of your first two.

The amount of money the US could end up spending on Ukraine is not significant when discussing the solvency of the United States. Note that I’m not claiming the amount is insignificant overall.

Your question of why Ukraine’s borders are worth protecting but ours are not is not legitimate. Illegal immigration, as bad as it is, is not the same as an armed invasion. Also, there are huge numbers of people who are appalled at the illegal immigration but support funding for Ukraine.

Now for your serious questions.

The effect on you is huge. The folks who have the most influence in the Western liberal democracies are the group that we used to call neo-conservatives - people like Bill Kristol. The tale of American politics since WW2 can be told by the actions of this group.

After WW2 this group were communist fellow-travellers. They believed in a worldview in which soft-communism was the way of the future. So they supported the Democrat Party. As the USSR failed economically, and the depredations of the communist governments were revealed (most notably with publication of Gulag Archipelago) this group became disillusioned and swung their support to the Republican Party starting in 1980. But they had not given up on their frustrated ambitions of a one-world government under socialist auspices.

It stayed that way until the Democrats abandoned their union support and accepted the free trade policies, like NAFTA. NAFTA and the great offshoring that took place in the decades since 1980 are part of their plan to unite the world in a one-world government.

They have the best motives for this. They believe it will end warfare, provide a high minimum standard of living for everyone, and allow mankind to save the world from such as climate change.

Since 1950 this group of people - not numerous when counting votes, but extremely impactful as influencers - has been the main determinant in which party runs America. And don’t confuse them with the Woke movement of radical leftists; that is not who they are. In fact, they maintain power by balancing the hard left against the hard right and providing the small force that moves the needle of policy.

So how does it affect you? If the US soundly defeats Russia in Ukraine it would be a huge step in the direction of unifying the world under one government. They would still be far from that, but making progress.

I believe that a one-world government is the biggest danger mankind faces. Like all utopian plans, it has a rational basis - the freeing of mankind from crimes of warfare, and everyone pulling in the same direction - but it fails to take into account that all governments eventually fall into the hands of brutal tyrants, and in a one-world government there would be no way to ever overthrow such a tyrant.

I am torn over Ukraine. If I could have everything my way I would go all in on defending Ukraine and the principle that the established order shall not be violated. However, I can’t escape the fact that doing so would probably strengthen the one-worlders’ camp a lot more than mine.

All of this to say that what is happening in Ukraine is extremely important to you and me. In March of 1936 there were Britons saying, “What does it matter to me that Germany has taken The Rhineland”.

If that’s not enough controversy for one post I’ll add that Jeff Bridges played you better than John Wayne. Fight me!