Democracies at war


War and democracies don't usually work

I think Joseph Epstein at OpinionJournal.com is certainly right about this one.

One of the reasons that people in a democracy do not become enthusiastic about wars is that they do not feel truly implicated in them. Especially is this so when the wars are not strictly defensive and when they are fought exclusively by a professional army. The last war that commanded full national allegiance was World War II, and my guess--not having the perspicuity of Tocqueville--is that, owing to the draft, most people in the country had relatives and friends fighting in that war. Small flags with gold stars hung in the windows of families who lost husbands and sons, and the sight of them brought a national resolution not to make those deaths pointless. The country was united because the responsibility for fighting was spread throughout the population.

The rest of the article makes some good points too.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - December 26, 2005 at 04:48 AM  Tag


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