Earlier this week Dan Trombly and InkSpotsGulliver had an interesting back and forth on the usage of the term militarization to describe America's ever-increasing reverence of the military. It was prompted by a letter in protest of NBC's new piece of horrendous reality television 'Stars Earn Stripes'. While Trombly and Gulliber's discussion was mostly about whether the term militarization was a good place-holder for a more complex process, one that both described as 'fetishization of the military', the question raises a broader point about the expansion of militaristic ideas and processes within American society and what exactly woud constitute militarization.
In my mind there is little question that 'fetishization of the military' has become a cultural norm over the last decade or so. There are a wide variety of indicators, several of which are touched on in a few posts by Jason Fritz over at Ink Spots. Perhaps the one that's gotten the most attention is the Stolen Valor Act, which, while prohibiting a very distasteful action, ran roughshod over first amendment protection of expression no matter how vile. Other recent instances would include the political argument over early voting in Ohio and the aforementioned television show.
However, while it is silly to suggest these data points represent the militarization of American culture, Keith Boyea made a very good point on twitter suggesting that fetishization of the military would like precede actual militarization. With that in mind, it is worth considering a few other changes to US culture over the last several years that point to an increasingly weaponized and military-minded America. Whether they represent outright militarization is difficult to say and for what it's worth I don't think it does--yet.
One of the most obvious shifts in America's weaponization has been the purchase by local police departments of ever-heavier weaponry and vehicles. I'm not talking about major, or even small, cities investing in SWAT-like units, which I see as completely reasonable. I'm discussing small town police departments where there are often no more than a few dozen officers, if that, but they still have vehicles suitable to operations in Afghanistan (are MRAPs really needed on the small-town streets of America?) and where the standard sidearm carried by officers is supplanted by assault weapons. This shift towards a police force that resembles more of a para-military force in appearance (though obviously not in action or creed) would suggest America is an increasingly unsafe place reliant on authority's possession of heavy weaponry to keep the peace. That's, to put it mildly, not a positive trend.
Obviously much of the increased firepower found in small-town police departments is a response to the increasing power of the weaponry available to civilians and, therefore, criminals. However, the end of the gun control battle (for all intents and purposes the NRA won when Senator Ron Johnson said high capacity magazines were a constitutional right) is also a sign of America's shift toward a weaponized culture. The complete lack of restriction on gun purchases and gun ownership has meant Americans are more heavily armed than ever. More worryingly, however, is the slow disintegration of the background check culture that allows people like disturbed individuals like James Holmes or white supremacists like Wade Page (who the FBI was already aware of) to get their hands on a high-powered and perfectly legal arsenal. When the crazies can get legal guns it's unsurprising that law-abiding citizens want the ability to protect themselves via concealed weapons and that the police demand heavier weapons. Without some sensible restrictions on gun purchases (I see no reason why a 24-hour waiting period/background check shouldn't be instituted. Whoever needs a gun 'right now' probably shouldn't be getting one) America's gun possession stats will continue to rise right alongside the number of gun-related deaths each year.
The final indicator of America's more gun-happy culture is a foreign policy-related one (as an IR guy, there had to be an international touch to this....). Increasingly America does not have a foreign policy it has a military policy. Budgets are often cited to demonstrate this (State's total budget is something like 10% of the Pentagon's base budget) but it goes deeper than that. Americans now see interactions with other states primarily through the lens of military action. The idea of drawn out diplomatic and economic wrangling is seen as both ineffective and not American enough. This is a problem among elites as well as the mass population and on the right as on the left. Calls for military action in both Syria and Iran point to America's view of military force as a fix-all when generally it is anything but. This is a cultural shift and is part of the fetishization of the military discussed above but has weakened US diplomats and diplomacy.
These are merely observations of how America has shifted over the last ten years or so towards a more weaponized society, one that sees the individual ability to deliver physical violence as a net plus, and views American strength solely in terms of military power. While America is certainly not a militarized society, are these not some of the characteristics that one might expect of a society on the road to militarization?
