The United States of America should unilaterally disarm its nuclear arsenal

To begin my constructive argument... 1. "Nuclear Deterrence" As a Superpower, it is important to have better weapons than all other nations on Earth (hence the 682 billion dollar budget). Nuclear weapons are the most powerful weapons mankind has created or fielded in history. With the recent height of tension around the world, particularly the Korean Peninsula, the Persian Gulf, and the China Sea, If the United States were to go to war, it would be against nuclear armed enemies. Sometimes in history, just possessing nuclear capability has been more important than using the bomb itself. Think about it, only two bombs have been used in history, bombs that are not nearly as powerful as today's bombs, but nuclear weapons have had a large impact on the way governments and people in general perform. Therefore the cost of maintaining nuclear weapons is more like a cost of deterring other countries. 2. Power Projection Being able to put a nuclear weapon pinpoint on any place in the world sends a simple message, "We have Power". This kind of power is more important than any other military strength. Being able to take out a nations infrastructure without ever putting boots on the ground is a tremendous advantage in any war. Putting a fleet off the coast of our enemies, a fleet containing destroyers, aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines, all of which are able to deploy a nuclear weapon, can quickly destroy an opposing governments ability to act. Putting enough assets in a region containing an enemy nation can hold a lot of power over diplomatic solutions, the kind of power that can be attributed to advanced and powerful weapons, like nuclear warheads. 3. Security Although nuclear weapons have devastating power on the battlefield, the most important aspect is that they maintain security. Knowing that we have the most powerful weapons on Earth, most nations will not be willing to fight against us. This is sort of a perk or bonus of a nuclear warhead. They, especially the nations that do not poses nuclear weapons, have the slightest ability to attack our shores, besides cowardly acts of terrorism, and this frankly helps me to fall asleep at night. Knowing how powerful and determined the American people are, we have a strong sense of security. We will not tolerate attacks on our home ground. And even if a country shall be as mad as to attempt to make some sort of attack against us, we will respond with whatever means necessary, including nuclear warheads. If smart, a national leader must know that they will never destroy the American people, as even in our time of hurt, we will come back and defeat our enemies. Knowing this that leader will most likely not attack us, unless the want a couple of nukes down their throat the next day. 4. Image, Ethics, and Morality War in itself is not very good for a country's image, ethics, and morality, and although nuclear weapons are not good for image, they are just as necessary as any other weapon or component in war. Nuclear weapons play a role as a psychological weapon of today's modern battlefield. Just as scary as it must have been witnessing the first chemical attack as a British soldier sitting in a trench during the Battle of Ypres, it is equally scary for a soldier of today to see a nuclear bomb go off. Knowing that you have a weapon that can destroy the enemies will to fight, well, it can actually save lives from the standpoint that the enemy will surrender. Therefore, the war can be saved from being prolonged, and less acts that go against our morality and ethics can be committed. These arguments have highlighted why I believe that keeping a certain amount of nuclear weapons could prove more beneficial than destructive for our nations power, security, and image.