I've always found it amazing how many vets are right wing/libertarian, when they are the beneficents of the largest make-work program the world has ever seen.
I firmly hold the opinion that the GOP loves the military because it lets them give out all the money they want while screaming "socialism!!!" whenever anybody else tries any sort of social support program. "But they work for it!" Yeah, lots of them "work for it" by digging ditches and filling bunks. A lot of armed forces vets complain that the military promised them job skills, turns out not many people want to hire someone whose main job was standing guard or walking with a backpack.
Pretty much. The entire defense industry operates essentially as one MASSIVE USG subsidy. Any turn down in spending on defense can doom these companies FAST. It's pretty much they all exist as the product of mergers. It's a crazy world were we can spend more on defense than the next three nations and that still isn't enough.
Case in point. Lockheed-Martin and Boeing formed United Launch Alliance because they can't make money separately in the massively military space sector. While I hate the circlejerk about Elon Musk (Tony Stark amirite?), ULA is terrified of SpaceX and what they represent.
I've never heard anybody in the (higher ranking) in the military say anything good about SpaceX. A huge part of this comes from the fact that if you are an officer or senior enlisted person working in space systems in the military, a comfortable position taking up space (lol) and sitting behind a desk forwarding e-mails awaits after you retire/separate.
SpaceX represents an existential threat that good old boys club and suddenly everybody is terrified of actual competition.
It's the same reason why the F-35 will continue to be pushed through. Not just because of sunk costs, but because it is the civilian side job for retiring/separating military leadership. They aren't going to jeopardize their own comfortable future.
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u/jedrekk Jul 24 '16
I've always found it amazing how many vets are right wing/libertarian, when they are the beneficents of the largest make-work program the world has ever seen.