Noam Chomsky Quotes
In Turkey also, for a long time, the military was the decisive force but in the past 10 years they have backed off somewhat and the civilian government has gained more independence and autonomy even to shake up the military command. In fact, it even arrested several high-ranking officers [for interfering in governmental affairs]. Maybe Pakistan can move in a similar direction.
Chomsky, Noam, and David Barsamian. Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy. Metropolitan Books, 2017, p. 45.
America is almost unique among nations where the military has never been a force that either dominated or controlled the government or acted independently from it. The Founding Fathers knew well the history of Europe and other nations, and built many checks into our Constitution and our traditions with George Washington, setting the example for American military men forever after.
There is frequently a disagreement between the military and civilian leaders just as there are disagreements among most political personnel. Hawks, and people who have had experience in the military tend to think that military advice on military matters should be determinative with the President and Congress. Others tend to believe that military advice should be considered, but if it were always adhered to, there would be no point in having civilian control over the military. See {639667} for an example of when military leadership advice prevailed and it was a mistake.
The only soldier ever so honored
Essentially, the key value is civilian control of the military. For centuries in human history the civil leader has been the strongest military leader or the most influential church leader. The notion of subservience of the military to the elected civilian government is crucial and where there are other traditional roles of the military such as policing government, eliminating corruption, enforcing the Constitution and the like, the democracy exists only to the extent that the military leaders will allow it to if they have the power to control things.
Jefferson opposed the formation of a veterans' group after the American Revolution.
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is the author of more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism.
