"Dupes" is your word, not mine.
Those currently serving, as well as pensioners, are more favorably inclined towards aggressive military policies, military spending, and larger gov't, quite naturally. It's no slur on them to say the rest of the population of taxpayers who pay for this may have a different idea, if they got more involved.
Meanwhile we have less and less involvement by the citizens, almost as a gov't policy. Insiders love to run things, and keep the tax dollars flowing in, increasing spending and debt, with as little interference by citizens as possible.
With the bloated gov't and military we now have, the leadership will find reasons for aggression around the world, even without terrorism, simply in self-interest. History shows that to be inevitable.
With mandatory service by every able-bodied adult the country gets a better view of what the military should be, and vice-versa. Otherwise that divide increases relentlessly to the point where Argentina is now, the military staying out for the moment but eventually they'll jump in and decide who runs the country.
That's besides the risk that the governing elite easily avoid the truth of combat, which is destruction and death that should be used only in defense, and promotes the idea of painless, effortless warfare, which leads to dreams of empire. |
