America’s love affair with uniformed men is problematic
As a foreigner in your fine country, the amount of influence the military has in the US is amazing and slightly scary.<p>Going to a Baseball game is like visiting a military base - recruiting ads play of the big screen before the game, during breaks various service people are honored (the last game I attended it was a random technician who had been in the Navy for 20 years. Good for him; but not something I expected to cheer about in a stadium). A large proportion of the audience is made up of military personnel as well. My impression is that the military has a huge marketing budget and basically owns baseball, effectively a huge government subsidy for owners of the teams.<p>Even in wilder society, every third person you meet is either currently serving, served at one stage, or worked for one of the large companies with government contracts to supply the military.<p>Guys, it is not like this in other countries. In fact it is creepy and weird, but I don&#x27;t see it changing anytime soon. The military is so ingrained into America&#x27;s economy and culture that de-emphasing it would be a huge change.<p>I am not a total pacifist - a military is a handy thing to have around. But the US is crazy in this regard.