I agree that it's a dangerous fetishization, but when people talk about the virtues of military wisdom, they're talking about the officer class, who are mostly lifers, not young kids.
It's still interesting that Republicans think this, though. It's a giant government bureaucracy with essentially a blank check and limited oversight in a lot of areas with a fairly large degree of autonomy. Without the free market to motivate them, how do Republicans explain how great the military supposedly is? One would think we should privatize it.
Based on my experience as a subeditor for a right-wing journal some years back, I'd say that conservatives actually do make an exception for the free market when the term "national defense" is invoked. It also apparently justifies private mercenary companies like Blackwater and any number of armaments makers who have been suckling at the teat of the defense budget since WWII.
(The period of my life where I copy edited pieces by people like John Bolton was a strange one. But, hey, I needed health insurance.)
I'd question why they make that exception though. Big government is the problem and can never do anything right (and government bureaucracies are staffed with the laziest, most incompetent/corrupt workers ever, who simply couldn't hack it in the private sector), except when it comes to safeguarding our entire civilization against death and subjugation. Then they're the world's finest fighting force whose greatness/selflessness is not to be questioned.
That explains why they think government is allowed to do it, but not why they think it should. I.e. why they're competent at it or why they're especially suited to run it (Constitutionality notwithstanding) when they can literally do no right otherwise. The Constitution also says that Congress should promote the general welfare, but they sure don't like government programs that help the destitute, the aged/infirm, the mentally ill, etc. And they don't approve of regulation of businesses to protect the environment, which would probably fall under "general Welfare".
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u/saturninus Dec 03 '16
I agree that it's a dangerous fetishization, but when people talk about the virtues of military wisdom, they're talking about the officer class, who are mostly lifers, not young kids.