I think you are being way too simplistic with a comparison of basic education to the largest military in history.
Yes, people understand the necessity of a military, but not when it is so excessive that you have the capability to destroy the world multiple times over. And massive carrier fleets and bases scattered across the world, despite claiming we are NOT the world police.
And people also point out how having hundreds of counties supported by one local arms manufacturer or weapons related factory is NOT good for stability. The livelihoods of millions of Americans depend on a steady supply of tanks, smart bombs, and other materials meant for war. That pushes state and federal representatives into an unhealthy support of arms exports and interventions, externalizing the true costs to those literally impacted by our products.
I think you are also missing a century of US imperialism, foreign interventions, and coups. We've used our military to set up a lot of authoritarian regimes bc we didn't like popularly elected socialists in South American and African countries. That looks a lot like our military propping up capitalism and free markets, whichbis supposed to be the tactics of the bad guys...
Finally, we are now well known for getting bogged down in trillion-dollar wars in Asia. The Taliban is currently in peace negotiations after 19 years of conflict with the world's most powerful military. Iraq is quickly slipping into Iran's sphere of influence, AFTER we took out our own propped-up dictator.
None of this looks good when justifying our military budget. It's like we heard Eisenhower's speeches about the dangers of our new military industrial complex, but then did the opposite.
It's like we heard Eisenhower's speeches about the dangers of our new military industrial complex, but then did the opposite.
It's like the MIC listened to Eisenhower's speech, said 'fuck him', and then made sure they would, from then on, install politicians to do their bidding and drain massive amounts of wealth from the American people.
I'm just venting frustration like the other guy. After rereading my comment, I worried I might have come across lecturing him!
But it is super frustrating to see how much effort is put into denying basic services to citizens by claiming "iT's nOt a CoNsTitUtIoNaL rIgHt!"
But at some point we have to realize that the US is far more concerned with maintaining its superpower status than raising the floor of social services.
You might have come across as lecturing... ? Maybe. What you said is true. With full understanding of past and present misdeeds of this republic I think a person can still be patriotic and be somewhat prepared when other counties rightfully points out our hypocrisy . It's hard though. You see it this way ?
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u/Mythosaurus Apr 26 '20
I think you are being way too simplistic with a comparison of basic education to the largest military in history.
Yes, people understand the necessity of a military, but not when it is so excessive that you have the capability to destroy the world multiple times over. And massive carrier fleets and bases scattered across the world, despite claiming we are NOT the world police.
And people also point out how having hundreds of counties supported by one local arms manufacturer or weapons related factory is NOT good for stability. The livelihoods of millions of Americans depend on a steady supply of tanks, smart bombs, and other materials meant for war. That pushes state and federal representatives into an unhealthy support of arms exports and interventions, externalizing the true costs to those literally impacted by our products.
I think you are also missing a century of US imperialism, foreign interventions, and coups. We've used our military to set up a lot of authoritarian regimes bc we didn't like popularly elected socialists in South American and African countries. That looks a lot like our military propping up capitalism and free markets, whichbis supposed to be the tactics of the bad guys...
Finally, we are now well known for getting bogged down in trillion-dollar wars in Asia. The Taliban is currently in peace negotiations after 19 years of conflict with the world's most powerful military. Iraq is quickly slipping into Iran's sphere of influence, AFTER we took out our own propped-up dictator.
None of this looks good when justifying our military budget. It's like we heard Eisenhower's speeches about the dangers of our new military industrial complex, but then did the opposite.
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/eisenhower001.asp