I've been reading Andrew Bacevich, USArmy Ret (Colonel) and agree with his warnings that our glorification of our fallen heroes, supporting the troops, and admiration for the military all pose a threat to democracy here. Polls show admiration for the military to be 4 or 5 times higher than admiration of any political leaders. The threat is, with that kind of admiration, wouldn't we be better off having the military run our nation than the bozos doing it now? In fact, it that question were posed in a poll, I'd bet $100 the "in favor of" would outnumber the "opposed to."

And here's the real, every-day threat: the young people who could save this catastrophic economy, and who could restore confidence in our political processes would rather join the military than take the long, boring road to mature contribution. I know a young man with a B.S. in Numerical Analysis who looked at his employment options, Google, Microsoft, etc and decided being a recon patrol leader looked a lot more fun/gratifying/engaging/meaningful. Another has had the best education his parents could afford and instead of college has chosen the Green Berets.

I am reminded of "Family Business" where Matthew Broderick decides to drop out of his Masters program in high-tech and pull a big heist with his ex-con grandfather, Sean Connery. Broderick's father, Dustin Hoffman, wised up to his criminal father after spending a few years in prison from one of Connery's jobs gone bad. Hoffman has spent the rest of his life in the long, boring slog of building a meat wholesale business, keeping a wife happy, and giving his only child only the best. Broderick looks at his father's life, and his grandfather's adventures and chooses the latter.

I am reminded of that because of the choices being made by very talented, very responsible, very able young people today. As Hedges puts it, "War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning" and the long, boring slog to being a contributing adult does not! Maybe the difference is that "War . . . Gives Us Meaning" and adult life requires that we give it meaning. As Frankl puts it in "Man's Search For Meaning" if a death-camp inmate asks, "What is the meaning of life?" he will die. But if he asks, "What meaning can I give my life" he might live. Thus, given that there's nothing in our educational system to address, "What meaning shall I give my life" it is no wonder that kids would be attracted to a force that gives them meaning. There's almost nothing in our cultural mileu, TV, movies, music, that exalts the quest of the individual to give meaning to their life.

The threat is real: someday, men whose lives have been given meaning will start running things for those of us who failed to learn and teach how to give meaning to our lives.