This has to make a huge difference. And if that article is correct, as seems to be the case, and the south is very over-represented in the armed forces, then that can't be just about "surplus population". It has to be about the kind of culture that produces people who want to join up whether they are faced with few other choices or not. Where I come from you could be poor as dirt but still never be the type to join up, and it certainly looks that way here as well.
Oh and I can't get into the whether or not this is really the south or not question. I don't understand the rules by which that judgement is made, but everyone here thinks this is the south so I'm just going to let them make that call.
Catherine
Quoting Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>:
> Mike Ballard wrote:
>
> >Yohshie wrote:
> >
> >If you want to make your nation the biggest empire that polices the entire
> >world,
> >the best way to go is of course to first kick peasants off the land
> >and then offshore industrial workers' jobs to other countries.
> >Otherwise, you don't enjoy a big surplus population willing to go to
> >war at low costs.
> >
> >*****************
> >
> >Brilliant!
>
> Except that Japan and much of Western Europe has a larger "surplus
> population" than does the U.S., at least as measured by
> employment/population ratios.
>
> Doug
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>
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