Separation from the Warrior: A Social Prescription for Disaster

The softening of American character is the single greatest threat to this nation and I vehemently believe that.  America has never been a truly martial society as we would characterize the ancient Spartans or the like.  Rather, America was founded by men who were farmers, merchants, craftsmen, printers, artisans, but also Minutemen.  The Minuteman was the every-man who could swiftly don his weaponry and report for duty in order to defend community, colony, and later, State.  All men were ideally this.  These were not professional warriors who were paid by the State and sustained only to fight on behalf of the State.  These were citizens who fought for their own family, community, and liberty.  That is the might of America, and that is what we are losing fast in our modern lifestyle of excessive comfort.

The separation of a society from its warrior class is a key factor in what brings a people to ruin.  Rome sealed its fate when the Empire moved to relying on foreign mercenary forces to provide military service rather than gleaning its warriors from land holding Roman Citizens as was the stipulation during the Roman Republic period.  Fortunately we are not practicing this dire mistake yet in our great nation but we are none-the-less separating from our warrior class.  Why?  Because the American warrior is now a professional only, he is not the every-man.  And, make no mistake, the American soldier is still the best there is in this world, but our society has become increasingly soft even as our soldier has met his apex.

There is still a warrior class in this nation that is very strong and non-professional and it has grown in response to the softening of the overall national character, but this is a very different arrangement compared to America of the past.  This modern phenomenon is a self-described member of a warrior society who is a training enthusiast that invests great resources into training and weaponry for his own reasons.  This is a good thing as this individual is often highly invested in this lifestyle and certainly at a level of ability beyond what we have seen among private citizens ever before.  However, this martial competence among this small group of citizens runs in opposition to the entire abandonment thereof among the masses and this points to a continuation of a softening society.

The modern urban dweller feels no need nor desire to be a minuteman.  He, instead, defers the protection of himself, his family, and the community to the State.  He sees the role of fighting for his property, his security, and even his liberty itself, as strictly a duty of the government.  As this modern man further removes himself from the warrior we face an ever-widening gap in our society: those who believe in doing for themselves and those who hand all power over to the government so that it may do for them.  We are in desperate need for the re-emergence of the American Minuteman as the warriors of a people should be deeply ingrained in that society, not removed only to a professional capacity.  Such is the nature of this generation that can’t seem to race to the bottom fast enough.