Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

Thinking of the USA without a military is a waste of time. How about getting rid of the police force? Or if not that far then take away their guns. That has been proposed in some cities. I loved that little bit about wondering what the military leaders are up to. When did that happen in the US?
For better or worse, the US military is the force that freed Cuba and the Philippines from Spanish misrule. Ended World War I. Stopped Nazism and a military dictatorship. Stopped communism. The US military also rescued people in Crete, Nicaragua, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Haiti. Might as well get rid of the fire department along with the police department.

My suggestion; stick with art history.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by Calvin on January 24, 2012 at 12:52 a.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

I completely endorse the foregoing "My suggestion" made by Calvin: "stick with art history"!! This naive drivel, which might well have been concocted, over a six pack of Bud Light at 2 in the morning, is not be taken seriously. My 2 years spent in a post-Korea/pre-Viet Nam US Army gave me a profound respect for our US military establishment.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by jquarrier on January 24, 2012 at 4:26 a.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

One of the few constitutionally mandated functions of the federal government is the military. The Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, the EPA, etc., have no constitutional basis, and there can be no argument that the state of education in the U.S. was much better before the Department of Education was created by President Carter. The Departments of Energy and Commerce are also frequently detrimental to their stated purposes. The federal government seldom does things as well as does the private sector.

The dominance of our military not only protects the right of people such as Mr. Salsbury to express naive and even dangerous ideas, it has provided an era of unprecedented peace in the world. In fact, I dare say that without the Pax Americana, enforced by our military, Costa Rica could not have eliminated its military.

As to leaving more assets for "tackling other issues such as environmentalism, education and other social issues," the entire defense budget is only about 20-22% of the federal budget, depending on the year. We currently borrow about 40% of the money spent by the federal government. Completely eliminating the defense budget would still leave an unsustainable deficit. Think about what would happen to a family that consistently borrowed 20% of the money it spent. It would not take long for the bankers to cut them off.

I understand that a large percentage of students in the fine and liberal arts use their time in college to be insulated from the real world, and only have to face the reality after they graduate, but Mr. Salsbury really should think through the consequences of his ideas before expressing them.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by jbarrett on January 24, 2012 at 12:12 p.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

I've also recently been to Costa Rica. It less clean than the US, because the trash and sewer systems are something you'd expect in a developing nation. Please spare me the nonsense about how "clean" it is. While the people and climate there are very nice, I don't think it would be wise to adopt their foreign policy goals. As jbarrett said, Costa Rica has benefitted tremendously from Pax Americana. Couple that with the fact it still has defense (through a police force that would be able to defend the country if Nicaragua ever invaded), and good relationships with Panama.

If one wanted to argue that the US should re-examine its foreign policy objectives and find ways to do more with less, he would have a coherent message that deserves examining. Instead, what we have is a sophmoric piece by an "enlightened" college student intoxicated by the pura vida. A way of life, mind you, that benefits tremendously from American companies providing jobs and tourists. Interesting he didn't notice how Americanized Costa Rica has become, and how opening its markets to the mighty US has allowed it to prosper above its Central American counterparts.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by Savage on January 24, 2012 at 1:21 p.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

Imagining a world without a military does just as much disservice to America as does as imagining the world without education budgeting. The problem with our military isn't just that it's overfunded, but that it's badly funded. We're throwing billions of dollars at unfeasible Star Wars-style projects while our troops are driving vehicles without proper protection and having to get proper armor from their families back in the states. That's a disservice to the tax dollar, and blind cuts will keep the same harm that goes with blind funding (both of which Republicans are fond of.) We need an audit of our defense industry now before any more of our brave men and women get killed because of a lack of resources.

As for the Costa Rica tripe, they have about as little military as Japan has... wait, what do these two have in common? An invasion of either would result in immediate American retaliation. If you're going to make bad John Lennon references, at least be insightful with your analogies, as opposed to making ignorant comparisons. What was this article even about? "I'm not saying we should get rid of the military... but what would we focus on if we did?" I mean, eh?

• Upvote 0
• Posted by xz007 on January 24, 2012 at 7:50 p.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

I seem to recall that it was the democratic Congress in 1992 that raided the military and Jimmy Carter (d) throughout his entire term that cut the military. Bill Clinton did his part as well by not ordering more cruise missiles in 1995.. So where did you come up with this the GOP blindly cuts the military? I can somewhat agree with the overfunding....but then again it is aided and abetted by democratic law makers with their own local pet projects. Ted Kennedy supported an air launched missile program for years that none of the armed services wanted. Is that the fault of the military, the GOP, or Ted Kennedy who was in a democratic controlled Senate when this happened? The military was in terrible shape under Carter and his democratically controlled house and senate.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by Calvin on January 24, 2012 at 10:01 p.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

On a different note (hence the new post); what organization gives the same kind of training and experience that the military does? No other organization can take a problem child and turn him or her into a responsible, capable adult like the military. I remember the second Gulf War, an embedded journalist was making his report back to the front desk. The idiot anchor told the journalist to watch himself and to always do what the "old man" said. The journalist answered that the "old man" was 23 years old. No school in the world gives this kind of training and creates those kind of people.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by Calvin on January 24, 2012 at 10:06 p.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

This Jan. 24th post of Calvin's makes the convincing argument that no person who has never served in the military is qualified to make an argument, as English/Art History major Salsbury attempted to do, that that it is "hard to ignore the positive effects of being part of a society without a military." It is far more accurate to observe that "without a military, it is hard to contemplate an America remaining a free and independent nation nearly 240 years after declaring its independence from England." 2012, by the way, marks the 200th anniversary of the 1812 attack on our nation by England in its unsuccessful attempt to regain dominion over America which it had formally surrendered nearly 30 years earlier.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by jquarrier on January 25, 2012 at 8:31 a.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

I really think everyone here has missed the point of Mr. Salsbury's article. It was not about how the military should be abolished. Nowhere in this article was that stated. In fact, he writes,"It’s hard to see a future without the military, an entity which has guaranteed our citizens’ freedom for over 200 years and counting". It seems to be more about the mindset our society has about which issues are most important. Mr. Salsbury writes about how the military and war are big issues that must be dealt with, BUT they are not the only ones. He wants us to think more about education, the environment, etc. Most of the comments to this article have nothing to do with what was actually written about. The military did not end Nazism or Communism. These issues still exist to this day. HELLO. I think you all have proven his point by focusing on only a part of the argument and not the entirety of the article.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by KatieStoovy on January 25, 2012 at 7:40 p.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

If he was just imagining then he had no point to make now did he? How about those Navy SEALs rescuing hostages again!

• Upvote 0
• Posted by Calvin on January 26, 2012 at 1:30 a.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

And Katie in turn missed the points of the comments.

As someone who's been to Costa Rica I can tell you that, despite the author's claims, it is not a cleaner place than the US. I saw more litter, smelled more of the sewer, experienced more car exhaust in the city, and saw less recycling there than I do here stateside. The places he mentioned are beautiful, the Costa Rican people are wonderful, and I would recommend visiting the country. But it isn't superior to the US. It is still developing, and the government has problems of its own (high domestic taxes, poor infrastructure, a large deficit, and poverty). The point is that the military is not the reason the US has problems, as nations without a military have problems the US (with its military and defense spending) has done a better job of addressing.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by Savage on January 26, 2012 at 11:40 a.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal

Salsbury:Imagining the United States without the military

Don't have time to post here anymore. Hitting refresh on my browser waiting to post on the next day's articles.

• Upvote 0
• Posted by CIavin on January 26, 2012 at 6:34 p.m.
• permalink
• suggest removal