Daktoria
Banned
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Then you aren't familiar at all. The Constitution stands for an ideal. The oath taken by all military personnel is to support this ideal. When military personnel salute and stand at attention it is not just because they are programmed robots. It's to pay respect to that ideal. When military personnel get out after only 1 contract and then get license plates with their service branch emblem on it, it is to show their pride. This pride isn't just because they wore the game jersey of their High School. It's to show that they did their part for the American ideal.
OK.
"Defending America" has been very distinct in our history. In the immediate, it is easy to see retaliation after 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. It is easy to see the War of 1812 and the American Revolution. But what about the wealth of other assignments? What about the Barbary Pirates Wars? The Spanish-American War? World War I? World War II in Europe? Iraq? And all the other in betweens? Our military has stood to preserve our nations ability to meet the boast of our idealistic Constitution. We have preserved our ability to conduct trades and to build. We have encouraged democracy around the globe because it makes it easier to be a democracy. There have been over 120 democracies created since 1900. Our way of life defies history's prescription on how to organize people and how to rule them. Our survival and ability to grow depended on foriegn entanglements that would see entire regions preserve the historical tyrannical trend. Why else do you think we care about democracy in the Middle East.....the last region on earth that defies the future?
Our military is very much about ideology and everything that goes in to preserving it. Don't confuse the idiot soldier for the institution.
This is exactly what I worry about. It's possible that if a corporation demanded strict multiculturalism in support of consumerist free trade, the military would stand by instead of protecting the victims of affirmative action.
What will happen when there are no more entanglements in need of democracy? Furthermore, why are current democracies obligated to provide for the liberation of others? It's like forcing people to play "superman" for the unappreciative.
This is the path our nation took circa Vietnam, when it decided that our history of military work abroad has and will always be about more than immediate retaliation. It's worse now because the Leftist dogs of that era are today's teacher, lawyers, judges, and politicians. People want to preach about purity and utopia and sacrifice anything to get it while forgetting that the 20th century proved that Leftists can't do it without slaughtering hundreds of millions of people in the process. American Lefitists who have nothing else to bitch about (gay rights is a pathetic attempt to re-create their fight against the man) pretend that they can somehow borrow the prescriptions of Mao and Stalin without the stigma and blood soaked earth it produced. The idea that democracy in another region doesn't matter to America's security has been indoctrinated by univeristy professors and parents who preach that it is silly to be proud of your country; even disgraceful. People who have never served and has never seen what it takes to make sure that Wal-Mart shelf is stocked or those Chinese goods make it past piracy and war torn regions, pretend that its all by magic and we have no business anywhere unless we get punched in the face first (9/11 and Pearl Harbor).
I agree. The problem is America is addicted to consumerism which requires free trade instead of respecting free markets at home. A corporation could provoke this addiction by demanding that Americans change their way of life.
These consumerists don't respect domestic producers, yet insist on pitying foreign producers.
The military is not obsessed with it. The Defense Industry is. The military knows that the four man Fire Team wins wars. The Defense Industry simply wants to keep making toys we don't need or use to feed their bank accounts. And when politicians are put to the task of weeding this problem out they simply protect the thousands of jobs the Defense Industry provides in their individual states. Thus the circle goes round and round. Ever wonder why the F/A-22 Program conitnued to get billions ans billions of dollars even as our troops went to Afghanistan and Iraq with duct tape on their NBC suits and no body armor? It's because when politicians "cut defense" they are literally cutting the defense...not the corporations they protect. There's no money or jobs in creating body armor when compared to flying toys that has't been used since 9/11.
How do you think we can change the defense industry from caring about technology to caring about morale?
To be clear, I was talking about the morale behind taxpayer Dollars before, but your point about jobs is another good point.