ComradeSalad

I promise you that conscripted privates were not benefiting materially in any way except through the indirect profiteering of the US by means of imperial acquisition.

The federal poverty line for an individual in 1976 was 1,375 dollars a year.

A private with less then 2 years active duty, or the standard conscription length, that solider made 83.20 a month, or 998.40 dollars a year. Pre-tax.

That’s not exactly swimming in cash, which contributed immensely to the plummeting of conscript moral by the 70s.

Poor proletarian workers, especially minorities, did not have the resources to either run away to Canada, or the ability to subject their families to financial ruin by serving time in prison or leaving them behind.

The people who were dodging the draft were college educated labour aristocrats who had enough money themselves or from their families to keep their heads down in Canada until the draft blew over.

Should they have served time in prison or dodged the draft? Morally, absolutely. Materially? That’s where the idealism falls apart.

What in the world are you talking about? You can’t just make up claims because they sound right and affirm your stance.

The switch to counter insurgency oriented training began with the Vietnam war… which took place over 60-50 years ago. The disastrous counter insurgent performance of a military trained to fight the Soviets prompted a massive overhaul of US doctrine; especially as the prospect of war with the USSR became increasingly unlikely as the Union headed toward collapse. Actually, the effectiveness of the Afghans against the Soviets only intensified US military counter insurgency training and preparation.

Further, the vast majority of Usian veterans are overwhelmingly post-9/11 troops trained in counter insurgency operations before deployment to Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghan, Libya, and other nations where insurgency is the primary mode of combat.

I don’t know in what world you think the US abandoned Iraq, Syria, and Afghan in 2010. The army and national guard were rotating tens of thousands of troops into those nations continuously.

I love fedposting

Everything you described is just capitalism.

Governments have never “just let business fail” because under capitalism and its drive to consolidate and monopolize, the government will become an arm of corporate power. The weak and corrupt politicians are by design. The corporate welfare is by design.

This has been been seen throughout the history of capitalism and is the logical conclusion to its processes and theories. If you have a system based on infinite growth and profit seeking, the system will always devolve to exploitation, monopoly, and government control. Why? Because it’s profitable.

The very foundation that corporations working in their self interest will be a benefit to society is rotten, and has been shown to never work time and time again.

The only progress we have seen has come from public endeavors, independent actors, and the people. Never corporations. Only thing we get from corporations is 35 different types of Oreos and 20 different types of toothpaste all owned by the same company.

Corporatism is capitalism. A free market will always consolidate, monopolize, and expand its power. It’s not going to let some government get in its way. That’s why they become the government like in the US today.

Tell me you know knowing about socialism or communism without telling me you’ve never opened a book