American militarism

Andrew Bacevich ( The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War ) writes, “Americans in our time have fallen prey to militarism, manifesting itself in a romanticized view of soldiers, a tendency to see military power as the truest measure of national greatness, and outsized expectations regarding the efficacy of force. To a degree without precedent in U.S. history, Americans have come to define the nation’s strength and well-being in terms of military preparedness, military action, and the fostering of (or nostalgia for) military ideals.”

He says that this militarism took form after the 1960s, and was not the product of a single administration or a single political party, but of a convergence of interest among various powerful groups:

“Military officers intent on rehabilitating their profession; intellectuals fearing that the loss of confidence at home was paving the way for the triumph of totalitarianism abroad; religious leaders dismayed by the collapse of traditional moral standards; strategists wrestling with the implications of a humiliating defeat that had undermined their credibility; politicians on the make; purveyors of pop culture looking to make a buck: as early as 1980, each was military power as the apparent answer to any number of problems.” His is not a polemic against the military (Bacevich is a West Point grad), or against war. It’s a polemic against military idolatry.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; and some in Integrated Defense Systems . . . .