Our Socialist Military System
Some have called it ”The Big Green Welfare Machine”…
“the overall military welfare system has a net effect of isolating the military and its families from the society it serves. And this leads to a natural tendency towards an insulated sense of entitlement and superiority; military people are just naturally better than civilians. Or so seem to think many in uniform and their spouses. That’s an odd inversion of what ‘service’ means.” – Freelance contributing journalist, Capt. John Byron, US Navy (ret.)
The above statement was taken from a 2010 article on Foreignpolicy.com
Since that time not much discussion has erupted about our military benefits spending. Because of the language and animosity toward the unemployed / under employed by the conservative media, I think it’s time we start to place this argument in the national spotlight.
We will begin by comparing what exactly the military gets and what you don’t.
How is it possible that so many military service-persons believe they are somehow “entitled” to a better standard of living than the people they serve? The very people who pay for their lifestyles!
I personally think that it stems from hero worship. We’ve been told since the end of Vietnam that our military is full of heroes. It’s not. There is a short list of heroes and they are rewarded with medals. In the day to day safety of myself and my family I am the single line of defense against outside physical threat. Not the police, not the military, not the national guard, just me. I’ve traveled the world and can tell you from first hand experience there is not a massive invasion force hovering over us ready to pounce at any moment, and frankly, if there was, we’re completely unprepared for it due to our deployments overseas.
The United States spends six times the budget of the next country, a whopping $698 billion compared to China’s $119 billion. The third largest military spender is the United Kingdom, sitting near half of China’s budget around $59.6 billion.
We’re addicted to military spending and it seems like our nation is creating, by design or by default, a military “caste” with far greater benefits for being in the business of destroying enemies who are out-matched in every significant way.
We need to cut defense spending. It’s the only way to repair this rift before it forces us closer to a state of civil war.
I’m not advocating removing the benefits the military have, just extending them to the average citizen. If our people starve to death or die from diseases long cured, what are you fighting for?
(I saw your comment on NPR’s article about your self-made success and decided to check out your site. Interesting site, I must say.)
While I agree that we should cut defense spending (and all spending, for that matter), there is a difference between an O-3 in Afghanistan and the kid working at the Burger King by my house.
The chance of on-the-job injury (whether being wounded in combat or simply tearing at ACL during PT) for a soldier is FAR greater than the chance of an injury for the cashier at BK.
The kid at BK gets to go home to his family every night (or day, since fast food chains have decided that we should be able to eat their crap 24 hours a day), the soldier does not.
Of course the soldier gets a pay raise for marrying because most likely, the spouse will not be able to hold a full-time job as military families move quite often. Why would a kid at BK need to move for work?? Anyone who moves for a fast food job is just plain dumb.
And childcare? If you have a kid before being financially stable, you don’t think things through very well. I’m 19. I don’t have a kid because I’m not out of school and while I plan to be a self-made entrepreneur, I won’t have kids (or a family for that matter) until I am completely financially stable. If you want to have a kid at 16, then by all means, that is your right. But be prepared to accept the consequences.
I just don’t see this as a good comparison. I believe that anyone with the drive and willpower to succeed in life can succeed, even the kid working at BK. Will there be roadblocks in the way? Absolutely. I go to school (paid for by my own hard work) and spend 60+ hours a week working on my business. I’m not a genius, I’m not rich and I’m not exceptionally talented, but I have drive. I don’t like seeing people complain when there’s nothing substantial holding them back. They have just bought into the beliefs that have been fed to them by colleges, corporations, and other institutions their entire lives. Personally, I saw the truth and rejected the blue pill that society offered me. I took the red pill instead (see: The Matrix)and never looked back.
I personally feel that a military job choice vs. a private sector job choice is not a dividing line between how we should treat that person in our society. The example I’ve given is a fair comparison because both jobs are entry level for the average inexperienced high school graduate. They are both accessible in the same way to the same person making the choice. In much the same way that you correctly see the jobs you can take as choices, a military spouse could see that her options will be limited for employment and choose to either make due with less or not marry. Those are real choices, and they’re hard. No choice in military life is more difficult than civilian life. Anyone can tell me about how they lay their lives on the line, but so do any citizens who choose to drive buses in bad neighborhoods, teach in gang territory, women who risk rape by working late night waitressing jobs… electrical linemen who risk accidental injury from a variety of things. Don’t forget civilian police forces. Our society is a dangerous one and it’s time that we recognized that by extending medical coverage to any and all citizens. More than 30 countries in the developed world have universally accessible healthcare and I know we can have the same.