Utopian, I know, but: If no nation had a military,

[rateyes]

no nation would need one.

[nomorenomore08]

1. Only problem is, the first nation to de-militarize would be a sitting duck...

:shrug:

[rateyes]

5. True that. nt

[krispos42]

13. And the first nation to re-militarize would conquer all

If you beat your swords into plowshares, you'll plow for the people that didn't.

[krispos42]

14. Damn dupes...

[jody]

2. Let's get rid of police officers first and see how that works. n/t

[rateyes]

4. I wasn't talking about law enforcement. And, I said it's Utopian.

I'm not saying we should get rid of our military. The presence of other militaries necessitates ours.

It just sux.

[jody]

7. Sorry but our military forces are law enforcement on a global scale. n/t

[rateyes]

8. Is that right? Whose laws? What the hell is our military doing enforcing

the laws of other nations? They're not police officers---they are soldiers, sailors, marines, etc. Different mission. (Or, at least, supposed to be.) We don't send soldiers into our streets to investigate crimes, or enforce domestic law.

[jody]

11. DoD enforces our own laws. One recent example was invading Panama to capture Noriega. Another is

invading Afghanistan to capture those who destroyed the twin towers on 9-11.

A more famous exercise was conquering Japan after it attacked the US on 7 December 1941.

[vadawg]

3. at least until people started setting themselves up as warlords

if theres one thing we know, its that when their isnt a strong military to back up a government then warlords etc fill the vaccumm.

[omega minimo]

6. would there still be football?

[rateyes]

9. I hope so,

have to have something to watch on Sundays and Monday nights in the fall.

[omega minimo]

12. and other sports designed to train young warriors? in your idealistic non-militaristic vision?

[jmowreader]

10. Wrong, wrong, very wrong

People held wars LONG before anyone thought about girding part of their population with the responsibility of fighting them. If every country in the world were to get rid of its military, people would band together into armies on their own.

But at least now the government can have SOME control over its soldiers--we have these treaties that say you're not SUPPOSED to use broken beer bottles in hand-to-hand combat, for instance.

[stray cat]

15. Is that like no police and no politicians and no leaders as well

like the west when only a few settlers lived there and who ever was most dominant won?