"THE COMMUNITARIAN IDEAL WE SHOULD BE STRIVING FOR." I've heard it before, but I always enjoy Wes Clark's rip on how the army is the most socialistic, collective-action oriented institution in America, and that it's great and beloved because of, rather than in spite of, that organizational structure. But fun as Clark's riff is, its also a bit misleading. Insofar as there's a tension between the army and progressives, it's cultural and ideological, not organizational, in nature. Our troops are largely drawn from rural America, so you start with a base that leans right already. Progressives are quite skeptical of using military force, if not of those who make up the military, and that creates its own frictions. To say that the argument is between progressives and the military is to personalize what's actually an ideological dispute. The issue is much more about differing conceptions of the use of force and our capability and responsibility to carry out certain missions than it is about the groups involved. The same arguments and tensions and frictions occur between progressives and the liberal hawks. --Ezra Klein
