2011-11-17, 02:48 | Link #1161 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
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Well one difference is that there is no real religious elite to take orders from for our politicians. There is no national church. There are thousands of churchs of hundreds of christian (Protestant) sects all over the country. Half of them won't talk to the other half on the issue of religion. Plus we have many non-Christian religions represented, as well as a number of Catholics.
My state infrustructure knowledge is a little shaky, but most states don't have a specific religion it follows. About the only one I can think of that have some leaning is Utah and that is the Church of Latter Day Saints...which a lot of the other Christians don't pay attention to (and in some historical cases actively dislike). I also recall that one of the worries in 1960 was that if Kennedy was elected that the White House would be run by the Pope because he was Catholic. That didn't happen either. We have some vocal yahoos in the Bible Belt (Southern Baptist?) and other groups that are vocal...but most of the country really ignores them. Sure there is a definate Christian base in our laws and politics...but there isn't any single group that can claim to run the government politically based on religion. The US Government is rather secular, and has been for a very long time. Even when the country's religion views were more standardized in the 18th century and into the 19th century. "In God We Trust" and all that is still there. But is shows a faith...but within the giant grab bag of sects of Christianity...it doesn't point to any one group. A place like Iran, has a very definate religion behind the power when you have a cleric as the Supreme Leader. He is the one that can declare war and peace...not the President of Iran. it is fortunate maybe that the present Ayatollah does not seem to be crazy like his current President.
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2011-11-17, 06:40 | Link #1162 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Houston
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Intervening means conflict, and at times war. And war is something which a nation should seek to avoid no matter what. That means that intervening should be a matter of last resort, or if it can be assured that the benefits outweigh the costs (eg. Libya). As someone who's working on attending OCS after he graduates, I really think the problem is that Americans just don't understand war, and are way too naive and cavalier about their view on foreign policy. Even now. The wars in the Middle East are far away, and soldiering really now seems to be something that is the province of certain families as opposed to a collective national duty. |
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2011-11-17, 11:35 | Link #1164 |
=^^=
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: 42° 10' N (Latitude) 87° 33' W (Longitude)
Age: 45
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Much simpler. There was a clear enemy to focus on. There was something tangible to demonize. With the USSR gone - you got the right-wing desperately looking for something to demonize.
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2011-11-17, 12:21 | Link #1165 | |||||
Not Enough Sleep
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: R'lyeh
Age: 48
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Chechnya was never a country, it attempted to secede form Russia but fail. Quote:
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http://battleland.blogs.time.com/201...-civilian-gap/ the best remedy to this is to reinstate the Draft. when Senators sons and daughters are sent to the frontline, let see how many are willing to go to war.
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2011-11-17, 13:23 | Link #1169 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
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The draft is a hot potato issue for Congress. They know if they try to put it back without a major war against the United States....they are finished in politics.
Though te draft still does exist. All males between 18 and 35 have to register for said draft. But since the miltary is priding itself on being all volunteer these days, a draft would seem to be counter to the specialist ideals (as the draft is usually to fill the Armies firing line and nothing more). In fact I think it was only a few months ago that the last Draftee retired from military service. (The Draft was also an issue with the ERA (women's rights) since the concept went through that if you want to be treated exactly equally...well then you get to get drafted, too)
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2011-11-17, 15:19 | Link #1171 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Suburban DC
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I don't think that mandatory military service in any respect will do anything to make more americans critically aware of our miltary exploits. They will gain an appreciation for how tough the job is, but probably not be willing to criticize the government any more than they do now, in fact it may lead to mollification.
While I respect miltary personell for their effort and sacrifice, it's not exactly a culture that lends itself towards critical self examination. At least in the context of missions. |
2011-11-17, 15:22 | Link #1172 | |
Not Enough Sleep
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: R'lyeh
Age: 48
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2011-11-17, 15:28 | Link #1173 |
Megane girl fan
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
Age: 55
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I tried to do my share way back in '88. Did pretty good on the ASVAB (scored around 80) but got stopped at the eye test in the MEPS center. That's when they kicked me out and told me that I couldn't even be drafted.
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2011-11-17, 15:46 | Link #1174 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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Same here ... failed on the eye exams. It wasn't as if I couldn't be useful (I went in engineering and ended up spending some of my career on military flight simulation trainer projects). But there are also a huge number of tasks that could handled via some national civilian task corps if one isn't doing military service.
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2011-11-17, 18:31 | Link #1177 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
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That is a reason to choose not to volunteer for military service right out of High School. I could have (and for another year still can) been drafted. But I decided to not serve because I really didn't want that particular President to be my over all boss. It was enough he's signiture is on my Eagle Scout card.
That and from the experiances of those veterans around me...they said if you go in, go in as an officer.
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2011-11-17, 19:02 | Link #1179 | |
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 35
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War is such a terrible thing that it should only be carried out when it's clearly called for. If a despot is killing his own people I think that's grounds for an intervention. It would be unethical for America not to stop him. It would be like you witnessing a mugging and not calling the police. The libyan intervention is the perfect model, because the US was taking few risks, it lost almost no soldiers in the entire conflict, it cost relatively little, it achieved an outcome that will (hopefully) benefit the citizens of that state, AND the resulting government will likely be friendly towards the United State as well, and could become a stable prosperous long term ally. |
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2011-11-17, 19:36 | Link #1180 | |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
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Yes, technically USA is still the greatest military might on the planet. However until now there had always been a massive over-estimation of what is actually achievable with military might alone. And further, there was underestimation of how much it would cost in both lives and money, as well as how long it would take. Both Iraq and Afghanistan were assumed to be much easier military targets than they actually are, and the end goal was also unrealistically projected. With Libya, the goal was small, the use of force was minimal, and the expectations were no more than "let the Rebels decide themselves what to do, don't try to control politics". It's not so much that this is the best course of action, but it IS the only course of action America is actually realistically able to achieve with resources available. America just has to realise there is such a thing as "limits".
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2012 elections, us elections |
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