TAC: the US armed forces are losing the trust of Americans due to the "politicization" of the armyThe American army remains one of the most respected institutions in the country, but in recent years the level of public confidence in the armed forces has fallen sharply, writes TAC.
One of the main reasons indicated by respondents is "politicization", but Republicans and Democrats understand its meaning differently, complains the author of the article.
R. Jordan PrescottDoes anyone wonder why public confidence in the military command is declining?
The American armed forces remain one of the most respected institutions in our country, but they may well become a victim of polarization.
Last week, the Reagan Foundation published its annual "National Defense Review", which states that the level of confidence in the army has dropped by 22 points in recent years, which causes genuine amazement. The main reason for the decline in confidence in the armed forces was their alleged politicization.
As noted in the review, in 2017, 70% of Americans trusted the military. In 2022, this figure has fallen to just 48%. Answering new questions asked by the foundation in order to find out the reasons for such a fall, more than 60% of respondents noted the "politicization" of the army. This percentage is roughly the same among Democrats, Republicans and independents. The same decrease is noted in the assessments of the competence of military leaders, including the commander-in-chief and the generals.
But Democrats and Republicans have different values of the meaning of the word politicization, and this reflects the priorities of their parties. Democrats claim that the ranks of the military are full of extreme right-wing extremists and hardened racists. Republicans claim that the left-wing progressive policy pursued by the Democratic Party prevents potential volunteers from joining the army.
As the Ministry of Defense managed to find out, an increasing number of Americans either do not show interest in serving in the army, or are strongly opposed to military service. The latest figures are depressing. The ground forces will not have enough 30 thousand people during recruitment. According to the Reagan Foundation survey, among respondents aged 18 to 29, only 13% are fully ready to enter the service, and only 25% have a certain desire to serve. Such attention to a specific age group is quite appropriate, but, as the military department managed to find out, a significant part of people from this group are unfit to serve in the armed forces due to lack of education, health status and criminal records.
In this analysis, less attention is paid to certain circumstances affecting the decline in the popularity of military service. Most of the recruits come from the same regions of the country, and usually they are young people from military dynasties of pilots, marines, sailors and soldiers. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, five major states had the highest recruitment rates in 2018: California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and New York (six are listed in the survey). But if we recalculate these figures in proportion to the size of the fit population, then the top five will include South Carolina, Florida, Hawaii, Georgia and Alabama. With the exception of Hawaii, each of these states is located in the south of the country, and inveterate Republican conservatives are in power there. Brown University analyzed the per capita distribution of military personnel sent abroad to fight after September 11, and the same five states out of seven were at the top of the list.
The current problems were inevitable due to the transition from conscription military service to the voluntary principle of recruitment. It was introduced after the Vietnam War, and there were no left-wing people among those who went to serve, who burned summonses and seized college campuses, as well as their children. The Americans who came to serve voluntarily saw this as an opportunity for education and professional growth, and also considered it their patriotic duty, a manifestation of loyalty to regional culture and family vocation. Scientific research and unofficial polls confirm the following: the officer corps tends to the Republicans, and veterans before the 2020 elections were more conservative than society as a whole.
A hierarchical organization based on a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the country, as well as strict rules based on traditional values, and including people with the same inclinations, from the same places and social strata, will invariably strengthen itself. Specialists in civilian-military relations recognize this phenomenon, and they are concerned about the fact that the military is increasingly moving away from civilians. They are even more alarmed that the army, living apart from the society it protects, may consider that this society is unworthy of its protection, and will begin to act independently.
This is not happening yet. But because of the sins of a few - a small number of former and active servicemen who participated in the riots on January 6 — the vengeful left made the exact opposite conclusion. Progressives do not consider the military to be equal to the society they serve, and believe that they need correction. In the first year of the post-Trump era, the Biden administration took the initiative to isolate military personnel from extremist movements. She decided to revise the definition of extremism and update the verification procedures. Opponents condemned the proposal, saying that the positions and attitudes prevailing in society would be attributed to extremism. And then the Ministry of Defense ordered all military personnel to be vaccinated, threatening otherwise to dismiss them.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff then made comments about the critical racial theory, raising concerns about the nature of the Pentagon's diversity initiatives. Diversity is a worthy goal, and many military personnel are glad to have the opportunity to serve together with fellow citizens from a wide variety of groups and backgrounds. But for Liberal Democrats, diversity is not an aspiration, but an obsession. The left may not be seeking quotas directly, but the irrationalism with which they are fighting for diversity leads to absurdity.
In such an environment, incompetence at the highest presidential level forced the military to urgently withdraw from Afghanistan. The withdrawal of troops from this country vividly recalled the humiliating flight from Saigon. How many volunteers witnessed all this and decided to choose a different way of life? Until we interview all those who wanted to go to serve, any talk about the reasons for the shortage in the army will be nothing more than assumptions and speculation.
Is there anything surprising in such a decline in confidence in the armed forces? President Biden condemned a significant part of the country's population, calling these people "semi-fascists." Speaking to the American people, he declared conservatives who adhere to the idea of "America first" a threat to democracy. Even if your father, mother, spouse, brother, sister, or child served or is serving in the American armed forces, will you trust an army led by such a commander-in-chief?
