By Jaime Ortega.
In the game of democracy they’re four major players: Voters, politicians, entrepreneurs and military personnel. Policy, egalitarianism and currency mold the lopsidedness parsed in the constitution of democratic nations; however, what most people don’t realize is that throughout history, the military has never depended on democracy to operate a nation; democracy in western countries is a modern day phenomenon. The military is bonded with the US constitution by pledge not by necessity — politicians and people need to understand this essential principle.
Sooner than later democracy will fail either government, people or the military — if not all — as it failed other countries since its philosophical inception in ancient Greece. The gravity of power and civil insurrection has shifted left, and its implosion may result in the dissolution of US Armed Forces – noticeable with Obama’s arbitrary decision to fire 157 senior military commanders in five years including a total of 9 military generals and flag officers—a dangerous control game.
Former president Bill Clinton and Obama, made similar policy adjustments, they both gutted the military and still represent the progressive obsession to weaken it – but is it a smart idea? Between 1993 and 2001, the Army went from 572,423 to 480,801, which is a decline of 16 percent. The entire military went from 1,705,103 to 1,385,116, a decrease of 18.8 percent. Obama’s last military budget cut came last summer to cut the U.S. Army to 40,000 active-duty soldiers, shrinking to 450,000 by 2017.
Obama’s lackluster attitude toward the military is resembled in an article published in Politico. “I recall asking one general, recently back from Afghanistan, if he’d shared his experiences and insights with the president. Rolling his eyes, he told me grimly that the White House preferred the military to be seen but not heard.” He asked if Obama was close to any military official when another retired senior officer said, “That is a great question,’ and added after a lengthy pause, “I don’t think he is close to anyone. He just doesn’t seem to have any interest in getting to know the military,” the retired general concluded.
But it’s not just Obama or his acolytes who despise military culture; the left has steadily shifted from mild-liberal to extreme progressive in less than a decade beating the revolutionary drums of activism. The movie American Sniper released in 2015, caused a typhoon of criticism in the progressive community. Progressives like Michael Moore and Bill Maher hastened attacks against the movie and the military core to degrade its national cause – that was the tip of the iceberg– the progressive media went ballistic on its negative coverage and reviews, causing ideological havoc with provocative headlines. Such united resentment targeted to condemn the military lifestyle is worrisome.
The 60’s started the Anti-War crusade to hollow the Vietnam War. Personally, I am against the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh tried to get his voice heard in France but was ignored by the United Nations before John F. Kennedy sent advisors and troops to Vietnam. Minh’s cause was genuine fighting against French colonization and exploitation of Vietnam. Yet, that is not a permissible reason to cut the US military budget. Sure, Iraq and Libya were huge fiascos, but no military has a perfect score in history, especially when ‘know it all’ politicians ignore advice from battlefield generals.
Politicians in the past had military background — that has changed. While the U.S. waged a war in Vietnam 50 years ago with 2.7 million men conscripted from every segment of society, less than one-half of 1% of the U.S. population is in the armed services today — the lowest rate since World War II. America’s recent wars are authorized by a U.S. Congress whose members have the lowest rate of military service in history, led by three successive commanders in chief who never served on active duty.
Such worrisome decline in military enrollment also occurs with civilians. According to the Harvard Institute of Politics when asked about sending troops to stop ISIS, 60 percent of the 18-to 29-year-olds polled said they support committing U.S. combat troops to fight ISIS. But an equal number (62 percent) say they wouldn’t want to personally join the fight, even if the US needed additional troops. Other recruiting issues make young men unqualifiable to join the US corps.
Readiness, and advocacy group of retired service members, says that 71% of 17-24- old Americans are ineligible for the military. The reasons behind, one in three adults nationwide weigh more than the military’s acceptance standard; one in six hasn’t graduated high school; one in ten has a criminal record that would prevent them from qualifying. The barriers are even higher for people of color, the report says: African-Americans are 18% less likely to graduate from high school on average, 41% more likely to be obese, and 29% more likely to have an arrest record than youth who are white the report says.
Such dangerous number could prove fatal with the rise of China, Iran and Russia already making geo-political statements in the Philippines, Ukraine, Yemen and Syria. Russia and China have more reserves and active soldiers combined than the US. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China and Russia trail significantly behind the US in military expenditure, nevertheless Russia has focused on effective combat rather than on technology to counter US technology, and China’s Pentagon cyberattacks have allowed the Asian giant to manufacture similar combat hardware. The Nation reports that the rise of nationalism in Russia has been a potent force since the Russia-Ukraine conflict to help stir up patriotism. The same can be said of China, the Communist Party of China through Xi Jinping and Hu Jintao ended local corruption in 2008, reversed the communist central control, and gave rise to nationalism allowing financial growth and trade without collectivization at the expense of forced military drafts.
Interestingly according to an LA Times Special report 49% of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U.S. are concentrated in just five states — California, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. The disproportionate statistics show that southern states have a higher level of patriotism compared with the other 50 states. The NYT and the Atlantic reported the evident decline of American patriotism and nationalism. With the decline in nationalism, individual cynicism will split the nation ideologically like Spain before 1936.
The LA Times story also says the U.S. military today is gradually becoming a separate warrior class. Many analysts say that is becoming increasingly distinct from the public it is charged with protecting. “The last decade of war has affected the relationship between our society and the military,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a commentary in 2013. “As a nation, we’ve learned to separate the warrior from the war. But we still have much to learn about how to connect the warrior to the citizen…. We can’t allow a sense of separation to grow between us.” Against the odds, such sense of separation could ultimately reconfigure America into a dictatorship, and abandon democracy to embark into a military state.
My conclusion of a military insurrection has started to slowly shed light in the past two years with increased public support. YouGov survey showed 29% of Americans could imagine supporting a military coup. The poll showed that one-third of Americans would support a coup against their own government. They found that 43% of Republicans would support a military coup in certain instances, while only 20% of Democrats and 29% of independents would. Such troublesome numbers continue to increase as the government, military and civilian population continue ideologically divided. As the number of people who support a military coup increases, so will the chances of a military government seizure be authorized by civilians.
Many outspoken millennials have torch a crusade to ignite rebellion against government and the military core not discerning between the decision maker and the loyal disciple – big mistake from a historical perspective. Ideological ghost have started to echo; anarchy, Marxism and communism dangerously toy along the inevitable collapse of the left, where ideological divisions in America will drive the nation into a new civil war under the next financial collapse. Just last year, the Eric Sheppard Challenge in social media to step on the US flag caused division among American patriots, veterans and soldiers. Thousands of American teens rushed to the streets and stomped on the American flag, some even burned flags in front of soldiers broadcasting their videos online. Such events to degrade military values have never occurred in the lifespan of US history. The pro-military groups fiercely challenged these groups with threats and reprisals.
The paradoxical question encompasses civil and political levels. What actions will military officials adopt to stop unwanted congressional acts and executive policy from targeting military values? How will the military and those who support it react at a civil level to stop anarchy driven by individuals that riot and burn military flags? This question could not only determine the nation’s future but the possibility that martial law might be the produce of a military up-rise to stop American progressives from taking control rather than one directed by huge financial corporations as most conspiracy theorist believe will happen — the latter something I don’t believe!
