Danielle Allen, holds two doctorates -- one in government and political theory from Harvard University and the other in classics from King's College, University of Cambridge. She is the UPS Foundation Professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.In her article titled Red-State Army? printed in the Washington Post on Monday, December 15, 2008 Dr. Allen identifies some interesting happenings with our military such as, Why do red states have much higher military membership rates than blue states?
While the population of the United States has grown by about 50 percent since 1970, the number of active-duty armed forces has fallen approximately 50 percent. Now, a smaller percentage of citizens now serve in the military. In 1969 13 percent of Americans were veterans, in 2007 only 8 percent of Americans are.
More importantly, when the draft was in effect military service was distributed pretty evenly across regions. Today, that is no longer true. Residential patterns for current veterans and the patterns of state-level contributions of new recruits to the all-volunteer military have a distinct geographic tilt. And the map of those in military service since 1973 aligns closely with electoral maps distinguishing red from blue states.
Dr. Allen wonders about the effects to our society if the members of our military only come from certain states, red, and not others, blue, over time.
The full story can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/14/AR2008121401815.html
Soap Box Ravings says when the draft was in effect, everyone had a chance to serve, like it or not; good or bad. The problem with an all volunteer military is eventually you end up with a warrior class and move away from the citizen soldier.
We have politicians, like John Kerry, who believe only the uneducated go into the military. He is wrong. With the equipment in use today you have to be fairly well educated as well as motivated to exist in today's military.
As it gets harder to exist it seems many more people are waiting for the government to take care of them. The politicians seem to want more and more people relying on the government. At the same time the politicians expect those who do not rely on the government to pay a greater share to support those on the dole.
Eventually, Soap Box Ravings says the warrior class will have enough and they will no longer obey the politicians. The country may end up divided as in a civil war or the military may overthrow the government and run the country themselves.
The advantage of the draft is it brings citizens into the military who at first glance may have never joined. But citizens moving through the military at all levels keeps the military from becoming a warrior class, it helps them remain as just warriors.
Soap Box Ravings feels we should have major concerns if our military is not drawn proportionally across our entire country.
