Washblog

So I've read a bit of military history. I had understood that a professional army was a good thing. Previously, armies were mercenary (eg the Hessians employed by the British to fight the American colonists), slaves (eg the Marmalukes of the Ottoman empire), or tribal (eg Scottish chieftans). Professional armies financed by and under the authority of the state gave everyone a stake in the well being of the nation.

Along with everything else, the privatization of the USA's military gives me great cause for alarm. The contractors serve the corporation, not the state. They are mercenaries. Nothing more.

I understand that some functions needs to be outsourced. Sure. Let corporations build weapons. But don't let them fight our wars.

The logical end result, as demostrated time and again in history, is the people controlling the fighters end up controlling everything. Said another way, if we pay corporations (the modern day mercenaries) to fight our battles, eventually, the corporations will take over.

We're seeing the incremental corporate takeover of the the commons, public life, and government every single day. It's only excelerated under Team Bush. Stuff like private security firms, walled communities, corporate (for profit) intelligence and analytics, private schools, etc.

I really don't have a thesis. Certainly not beyond anything that's been said many times before. But this development continues to eat away at me and I felt the need to point it out yet again.