Friday, December 25, 2009

Perpetual War

On Opinione there's a wonderful post and interesting discussion going on about what Il Principe calls the perpetual state of war.

...the lack of involvement being asked of the American people in the perpetual war by chicken hawk politicians, is one of the most immoral and offensive displays of the ever growing unequal distribution of wealth and privilege in American society.

These are strong words, which to me make perfect sense. The author went on to explain how this has been made possible in part by the all-volunteer military. Although one of the commenters disputed these claims, insisting with statistics and lengthy argument that the makeup of today's military is representative of society at large, I don't buy it. How could it be?

The other controversial aspect of the Prince's views was whether the Nixon decision to abolish the draft was what undermined and ended the anti-Viet-Nam-war movement or the successful result of it. All fascinating issues.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

1 comment:

  1. One of the things that I think differs is the tight control of media's access to the war. Instead of reporters investigating what they want, they are embedded, and their access to communication, transportation and troops is controlled, possibly based on what they report. Much of my opinion here is base on Michael Yon, an independent who is generally much more supportive of the war than the average reporter--he still has trouble.

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