In another thread the comment was made that a "martial class" is developing in our society due to the all volunteer army; and the poster thought some of the members of that group were a little scary. I would enlarge the concept to a "security class" that would include all those involved in public or private protection services. Those I have met in this group don't really scare me; nine out of ten, or better, I would trust / have trusted with my life, my kids lives and so on. But there are those I wouldn't trust to walk across the room, even with close supervision.

I keep coming back to the same questions when I think about this subject. Is this good for our society? Who protects us when the protectors aren't around? Who protects us from our protectors? When does self defense, as it has been generally understood (and in my opinion there is a slow but steady movement in this direction), morph into taking the law into your own hands?

Even with the best of intentions the security class can reach the place Yeats talked about in one of his poems, "those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love". There have been times when I have thought some of the people I protected weren't worth any effort, much less sacrifice, on my part. While it never affected how I did my job there was some bitterness there. What happens if that sentiment becomes prevelant and it does affect the way protectors operate?

Comments?

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"You don't have to practice being miserable. Everything else we're gonna work on." - A wise Platoon Sgt.

you bring up very good points. many of philosophized about the dangers of a large standing army, and whether or not this is even a compatible feature of a free society.

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Anyone with a vision needs to see an eye doctor. -Helmut Schmidt.

"Mrs. Palin, which specific journals and news sources do you read? (after being asked once)"

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If I understand the OP correctly, the issue isnt so much the size of the standng army (Its far smaller than it was all during the cold war) but the number of combat veterans that society will soon absorb.

Three thoughts:
- Across the size of the US population, there arent that many of these people;
- There was no problem in the post-Vietnam era, where the number of combat veterans was far higher and the US population far smaller;
- The more people who are effectively trained to use guns, the better.

The OP is about what happens if / when individuals surrender responsiblility for their own security to others. It's about what type of person the "protectors" are, or may become.

__________________
"You don't have to practice being miserable. Everything else we're gonna work on." - A wise Platoon Sgt.