Military is Communism?

[onebigbadwulf]

Isn't the military just a communistic society?

You serve them and they cover all your needs, food, housing, education, health.

If everyone in America joined the military, would it not be a communist nation?

[MrSoundAndVision]

1. No, we would be Stalinist....

because we wouldn't necessarily take part in the political process. Now if these leader were elected and presumably acted in the best interest of the public, then it would be socialist.

[bryant69]

3. Just out of curiousity

What do you mean by the public? And how do we presume that said government is acting in our best interest?

Also Socialist is an economic system and has nothing to do with government; thus there is no reason to assume that a non-democratic society couldn't be in part socialist.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[IrateCitizen]

2. See this article by former Army Special Forces soldier Stan Goff..

http://www.freedomroad.org/milmatters_1_left&military.html

A short excerpt...

The military is a violent macho culture. Surely that's no surprise. So are many team sports. Often enough that judgment ends examination. Warfare did much to shape the gender roles that now dominate our culture, even those aspects of the male script that are no longer recognizable as martial. Military institutions exist as the primary external armed body of the state, and in many countries as the internal armed body as well. All true. Military organizations are bureaucratic and they cover up their crimes and mistakes. Well and good. So do corporations, and there are workers there, too.

But how many on the left will acknowledge that the institution with the most effective affirmative action program in the country, at least with regard to race, is the United States Army? Interracial marriage is more common in the military than the civil sector by orders of magnitude. How many on the left recognize that on a military base there resides a community that is in some respects more socialist than capitalist?

Every resident of a US military base has come to expect high-quality schools, a plenitude of commons—including parks, recreations centers, gymnasiums, stadiums, swimming pools, cinemas, craft shops, hiking trails, community centers, and nature preserves—a three-tiered universal health care system, counseling centers, and safe, well-designed residential neighborhoods where housing, maintenance, and utilities are provided free. The disparity between the highest and lowest pay in the military is less than 13 to 1, compared to an average of 458 to 1 in the civil sector.

The majority who remain in the military remain there for these reasons. It never occurs to them that what they like about the military is socialist. They frequently hate the deployments, the occasional violence, the bureaucratic backbiting, and the ubiquitous incompetence. They put up with all these negatives because they and their families enjoy some modicum of security and well-being. Soldiers know some of the concrete possibilities of socialism better than the rest of us. They've lived them.

[felonious thunk]

4. Not communist

but there are certainly communal/socialist tendencies. But it is so heavily hierarchical that it could in no way be considered communist. It's far too regimented with people in various "offices" and structured advancement. But that referenced article makes an outstanding point.

[Cat Atomic]

5. It makes me think of feudalism.

You have two basic classes; officers (aristocracy) and enlisted men (serfs). Moving from the serf class to the aristocracy is rare. It's strictly authoritarian. Power only flows downwards.

A stretch, perhaps- but that's my impression.

[onebigbadwulf]

6. And thus

We must now point out the irony... that most Military vote Republican when their socialist way of life is clearly Democrat.