DSG

Monarchy is the most stable and prevalent form of government in world history. The last few decades are a blip.

The war's good for business. No more, no less.

The principal material problem in supporting Ukraine without bound relates to the depletion of material and munitions stocks that the defense industrial base lacks the capacity to readily replace. This presents opportunity costs, particularly re the Taiwan situation. Moreover, the perpetuation of the conflict prolongs global economic disruption that has knock-on effects at home. Why so much of the right still defaults to talking about the debt, is a bit beyond me -- it's counterproductive.

The military (and even more so, the foreign policy establishment as a whole) has been captured by their social and political adversaries. It thus it no longer enjoys the unqualified, credulous support from Republicans it once did. It's not terribly mysterious.

Stand for something else. Anything else. It can only be uphill. I too hate it when one party walks away from a contract that the other has torn up and abused for multiple generations.

Sadly, incorrect.

I don't disagree at all -- I was just digressing. I was speaking in more general terms of the pro-STEM/anti-"liberal arts" current in certain quarters, not arguing with you particularly. I'm familiar with the "bullshit jobs" hypothesis. I think if anything he understates their prevalence. Most probably wouldn't consider software developers to fall under this category, for example. But if they spend their days tweaking frivolous mobile apps in an effort to trick users into giving up their data and clicking on ads, I'd say they more than qualify, much-vaunted STEM background notwithstanding.

The social sciences (let alone consultancies) are very compromised as a practical fact, but I don't hold that they're inherently "pseudo-intellectual." The humanities are even more out of their tree these days, yet it's a soulless outlook indeed that thinks philosophy, history, and literature have no value. There's a middle path between valuing only those subjects that produce measurable economic output and imaging your basket weaving degree marks you as cognitively superior. But as usual, I seem to be in the minority.

Are you asking if nearly doubling the supply of labor reduces its value?

Let a hundred flowers bloom.

Some of their content is good. Most of it is faux-edgy Beltway/academia groupthink.

Not an active duty officer, but: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/

Another article (reposted from yesterday's WSJ): https://pointofview.net/articles/myth-of-systemic-police-racism/

They get around this by claiming that their political opinions aren't political opinions, they're "values" that "we" all share. Which is to say, you'd better share them or else.

I'm guessing because you pretty much do need one for the non-rated side (or at least did for a long time).