The current involvement of the US military in active imperialist aggression complicates the issue a bit.
The response from radical black twitter might be summarised as “white communists don’t get to use brown bodies for target practice while they’re rehearsing for revolution”.
These generations of war pose an important dilemma, juxtaposing the freedom to volunteer for military service with the implications of having such a small, narrow slice of America serving in our armed forces. If a significant portion of those who serve come from a family legacy of service, the American public is growing further and further away from the military force used on their behalf. Having a separate class of Americans who are responsible for the use of force and lack connectivity to society allows for force to be used more indiscriminately, as the constituency who notice and care dwindles.
The military is literally the only strong socialist institution our government has, which is a big part of why it is so popular. As the benefits from serving are being dropped in favor of using a war chest for private institutions and officers, the popularity dropped dramatically except those already inside.
Bringing back troop-focused officers means the military can once again be an effective method of rising from poverty.
While there’s precedent for me to have said ‘might not necessarily change’, with Nork nukes on the table it might be a different ball game.
The SASC hearing yesterday for Gen. Dunford was interesting to read about. Maybe not so surprising to have read is that the brass are trying not to exacerbate the situation and avoid any inflammatory rhetoric by using Tillerson as the sole messaging source towards NK- that is, Trump isn’t part of that decision loop. Doesn’t stop him from inflaming things anyway. People half-joke about him starting a war over a tweet, but hell if it don’t look possible.
I would like to hold out hope on China mustering the PLA for a ‘change of management’ sometime before things near the breaking point, but who knows.