[SIZE=+1]Watch Out for Those Pinko-Commies in Camo [/SIZE] [SIZE=+2]The Real Socialist Threat is the Military [/SIZE] [SIZE=+1]By Christopher Ketcham @ [/SIZE]Counterpunch [SIZE=+3]I[/SIZE] got into an e-mail conversation recently with a former CIA officer and ex-Marine, who, in horror at the Obama administration, went into a Tea Partyist fit denouncing the “communists, socialists, wealth redistribution folks, Democrats in Congress.†This was not his usual lucid style (he has helped me as a source on several stories), and he seemed to have momentarily lost his mind in considering the matter, or, at least, that part of the mind wherein a cold assessment of facts might operate. I wrote him back: “Where are these communist/socialist/wealth-redistribution folks? I see none of their ilk anywhere in Congress.†He never replied. Perhaps that's because the “right-wing†types such as my good pal refuse to recognize – or perhaps recognize all too well, and therefore don't want to talk about it – that whenever wealth needs to be redistributed for the benefit of corporate personhood, our Congress goose-steps to the line. It's “socialism†for the rich, the powerful, the influential, those able to marshal cash incentives to get their cats' paws to pass laws that favor their interests, for the doling out of public funds for private benefit. It's socialism for banks and automakers and big pharma and big agribusiness and the behemoths in energy and defense, and on and on. So much for the glorious independence and striving of the perceived paragons of the free market. The derangement of so many rightists in this country – viz. the dingbat Tea Partiers – is clear: They fail to understand that when large corporations hold sway over government there is no “capitalism†and no “free market,†certainly not as Adam Smith imagined it in The Wealth of Nations. And as businesses grow bigger to capture government, so does government grow when captured – how else could it service big business? Then again, my ex-CIA/ex-Marine source may be on to something about the socialist menace – as he would know all about it, having been trained, directed, housed and pensioned by a grossly expanding branch of government for most of his working life. Consider the path to happiness paved by the bomb-makers and the aircraft and tank and battleship manufacturers and the makers of grenades and rifles and teargas and bullets, and all the ancillaries of the military industrial complex, the “counterterror†thinktanks and mercenary contractors and intelligence-surveillance-security firms. These would not, could not, survive without government contracts, government intervention, government swaddling and succoring and snuggling, and, of course, the perpetual preparation for and making of government-run wars that feed their industries. The imperial war-machine is the great socialist enterprise of our time. Indeed, if we want real socialism for actual persons, we should all join the US military: Everything is socialized in the military, the personnel getting socialized medicine and socialized housing and socialized transport and much else (socialized bullets and bombs), the ideal and modus operandi being one of purest collectivism, the training the kind that teaches recognition of hierarchies and obedience in that long chain of command – chain is the operative word – wherein you do what you're told, you listen to the boss, you don't question, you don't fend for yourself, you don't step out of line. How totally un-American. Thus does the military man, having given up the struggle for self-command and self-reliance, receive diapering and feeding and care, ideally from cradle to grave, never opting to grow up and survive in the rigors of the marketplace. Those filthy pinko-commies in the US Army! Who woulda thunk it! It's astonishing, though, that these same government-trained and -paid personnel so often are to be found griping about the shape and size of the tit that keeps them alive. I have a close relative, for example, who talks the hard-core right-winger line, complaining endlessly about big government and “socialism†– yet he works for the ever-metastasizing State Department. When he calls me a “leftist,†I like to tell him I have never worked for government, never gotten a government paycheck, nor any grant or subsidy from government, nor any loans, never profited from government personally (as opposed, say, to profiting from government roads), never gotten food stamps or welfare or Medicaid or workman's compensation or unemployment insurance, nor cashed in my Social Security benefits (forced to pay for them in the first place), nor received any other scrap of so-called “wealth redistribution.†What a leftist I must be.
Pure idiocy. If you think every American citizen is going to live as property of the US government, then you need to have your head examined. Socialization works in the military, because you are not a free person. You are property. I once got disciplined and fined for getting a bad sunburn. It was abuse of government property. Also, notice the left has pretty much stopped denying they're all about socialism. Now they're trying to convince people its a good thing.
Ok there Dronetek, i dont know what neoliberals you've been hearing, but the corporate-owned Democratic party does not endorse socialism. Ask the real socialists.
If people joined the military because they want to be run by a socialized hierarchy, they would never survive. They would either get a dishonorable discharge, kill themselves or have a miserable time for however long their contract is. And just because the people in the military recognize chain of command that doesn't mean they respect it. I don't agree with the statement "they don't fend for themselves". Technically that's true, but you earn your way in the military. I think the author needs a little more knowledge on military culture to make such statements. And there is no such thing as an ex-Marine. "Consider the path to happiness paved by the bomb-makers and the aircraft and tank and battleship manufacturers and the makers of grenades and rifles and teargas and bullets, and all the ancillaries of the military industrial complex, the “counterterror” thinktanks and mercenary contractors and intelligence-surveillance-security firms.These would not, could not, survive without government contracts". Um alot of manufacturers could survive without military contracts. The military does not pay list price for a lot of their gear. The m16a2 service rifle costs $586 dollars to replace in the Marine Corps, where as in civilian world it would cost 5 to 6 times that to get the same rifle.
Of course he hasn't. The majority of the people on GC don't have a clue about the military, let alone have served.
Its hilarious that they think life would be better if we all lived like the military. Its a good example of just how deep the ignorance goes.
Find me one sentence in that article that condones, glorifies or otherwise dresses up all of us living under military conditions. It doesn't advocate anything, it's a comparison. Don't twist the point around to suit your agenda man...
Did you read it? Its basically saying, "whats good for the military should be good for the country". Which isn't the case since military people aren't free, they are property.
Living in America you are property, you have the illusion of freedom in the USA. Every one is a Debt Slave. You think you are free? Free people are allowed to own property in the USA you dont own property, property is lent to you for a fee. You think you own your car? Well if you do where is the title for the car? Not the certificate but the actual title? Oh thats right the state has it. And if you break one of their rules they will take your car from you. Just like any land you might think you own. Americans and most Brits (from what I understand) are brainwashed from a young age to believe they are free. But the moment you are given a social security number you be come a debt slave. The state owns you thats why they hold your certificate of Birth. You can get a copy of it from them but they will always hold the original because they own you.
I'm not denying that the military is 'socialist', I just don't get why you guys are trying to downplay the welfare state by saying the "REAL" socialist threat is the military. I mean, I agree the military is much too large, but the military is not nearly as economically damaging as Economic Central Planning is. Just look at states like New Jersey and California.
Anyone that has served knows that Dronetek is correct that you are the property of the military when enlisted.. You are a tool in a machine.. The military while some full of national pride is a good place.. When you are there you also know that the military looks after its own.. They have your back.. It is socialist in its essence...
Tons of civilians love military surplus items. There are a lot of wanna be soldiers who buy the gear, there are a lot of survivalists who buy the gear, and just the average civilian would likes to collect these things or camps with them. Granted I'm not talking about tanks, planes, and bombs, but definitly rifles, ammo, MOLLE gear, IFAKs, knives, hand guns, MREs and a lot of other field gear. Plus there is a big market for law enforcement too.
You are still looking at massive job losses in the industry.. The planes, tanks and bombs and all other serious stuff produce a lot of jobs.. Its one of the cornerstones of the american bubble..