Military is most trusted institution

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2006 – The military continues to be the most admired institution in America, according to the latest Harris Poll.
A total of 47 percent of Americans said they have a "great deal" of confidence in the military. Some 38 percent of Americans said they had "only some" confidence and 14 percent said they had "hardly any" confidence in the military.

Although the number has fluctuated over the years, this has almost always been the case. The fun part is seeing just how disgusted America is with our self-selected elites.

At the bottom of the survey, released March 2, were law firms at 10 percent,

First we kill all the lawyers. Seriously, well we gotta keep a couple alive to translate the law back into English, but then we sterilize them and close  all the law schools. Heck, I'd rather they teach trans-gendered Guatemalan Witch Doctor studies than mint one more legal parasite.

Congress at 10 percent,

I guess that number signifies the market penetration for pork distribution plus the number of family members and straphangers possuming a ride on each Congressional back. No decent person would associate with these vermin without liberal applications of monetary disinfectant.

organized labor at 12 percent,

Back in the robber baron days I think labor unions were a noble thing, now they are a drag on the economy. Their 12% is also an accurate graft + loot distribution number. I have sympathy for all workers and understand that corporations have hardly been good stewards of work forces, but unions are no longer  the answer. I prefer employee ownership.

major companies at 13 percent and the press at 14 percent.

The vaunted impartial and free press comes in at a whopping 14%. I wonder if there is a relationship between all the outrageously biased coverage of the military by that press and the public's disdain for it and continued love for our military. Shooting yourselves in the foot there eh jackals?

Well that was fun, now back to my corporate hack existence.   - Uncle J

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Comments

[chris]

How the hell did the Press gain 4% on politicians????

[jordan]

This is great! This support and high regard seems to have remained constant throughout the ups and downs of the war and Presidential politics. Some credit also has to go to the increasingly visible military leaders whom the public sees carrying the flag, as well as the weight, of this whole endeavor while politicians do...what they do.

I may not agree with all their assertions, but Gen. Pace and Gen. Abezaid, for example, have been excelling at media work. People WANT to look up to military leaders, and these two have been exuding seriousness of purpose and iron will for people to hang on to.

Coupled with pulling off the impossible overseas and at home, our soldiers are the steel girders of this great country. Every passing day's events makes me appreciate more what an incredible thing we have going here, and how it is worth the fight to preserve.

Dogged, tireless, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other commitment from the most senior four star to the lowliest private -- this is a deeply respected, and respectable, military. And the people know it, regardless of what the media say.

[Theresa, MSgt, USAF (ret)]

I think blogs like this one and others from soldier/sailors/marines/airmen deployed in theatre has also helped the American public "know" their military in a more personal way. Our troops deserve our respect and support regardless of the lack wits running amok in DC and in the lame stream media.

[Abu Sinan]

Now that is one I can jump on board with. I suspect the reason the numbers arent lower is that the lawyers and lawmakers voted for themselves.

I wish the pay that the military and defense related staff would match the job that they did. I remember knowing of airmen and soldiers who were on food stamps because the pay was so low.

This is also a leading cause of "brain drain" from the various service. When I worked for the DoD I made a fair amount more money doing what I was than the GIs, did, private sector the difference was staggering.

A good way to show the military that we really appreciate them is to give them what they deserve, pay wise. But it just isnt pay. I remember in England they were really making a stand against "homesteading" both with defense workers and the military itself. It actually made a few people fail to reinlist. Policies could be changed to be more friendly.

[olga]

come on, not all of us that bad!!
I am an atty but I am a conservative, a gun enthusiast and a military supporter (especially the Marines!) :o)
On a serious note, how come the press is more trusted than politicians?! I guess, the press voted for itself...

[tim]

At the risk of being accused of only seeing the glass half full, my honest feeling is that
I’m disappointed, though not surprised, that less than one half of Americans have a “great deal” of confidence in our military. Considering the fact that only 3% of the population has ever served, the survey results make sense. (That, and the fact that the same percentage voted for Kerry). I guess we as a nation have become so spoiled that we expect so much but yet are unable to recognize greatness.

The U.S. military is the best trained, best equipped and superiorly trained fighting force in the world. They continuously do things that other nations armies wouldn’t even think about doing, much less actually succeed at. Think of the toppling of the Taliban by basically a few dozen Special Forces, the “blitz” into Baghdad, the humanitarian operations in Sumatra and Pakistan. To name just recent events off the top of my head.

Being a part of the U.S. M.C. remains to this day THE proudest accomplishment of my life and I don’t care what percentage of the population does or doesn’t understand that.

May or military keep fighting the good fight and bring upon our enemies exactly what they deserve – death.

[jordan]

Amen.

[bill s. preston, esquire]

yea, i really hate those damn lawyers and their stupid ideas like private property rights, contracts and personal freedoms...

[Bell]

Where do I sign up to be one of the lawyers who gets to live? And when does the sterilization begin? I am not excited.

Can't we pass some useful purpose/citizen test?

[Uncle Jimbo]

Lawyers were invented to twist the most excellent concepts you mention. They exist in spite of lawyers, not because of them. If you get right down to it, th emilitary and the police ensure those rights one hell of a lot more than the shysters ever have.

Enjoy the adventure. And remember , all er are is dust in the wind dude.

Cordially,

Uncle J

[subhunter]

Question???why does a Lawyers funeral only
have 2 pallbearers?? A garbage can only has
handles yuk yuk yuk!!

[DaveP.]

Yeah, Mr. Preston. Without lawyers defending child porn as a First Amendment civil right, property confiscation under Kelo as a government perogative, disarmament as a civic virtue and treason as a common good, I just don't know WHERE America would be.
I bet you wouldn't want to live there, though.

[DaveP.]

Yeah, Mr. Preston. Without lawyers defending child porn as a First Amendment civil right, property confiscation under Kelo as a government perogative, disarmament as a civic virtue and treason as a common good, I just don't know WHERE America would be.
I bet you wouldn't want to live there, though.

[DaveP.]

Oops- double post. I don't know how that happened, but I apologise anyway.

[DaveP.]

Oops- double post. I don't know how that happened, but I apologise anyway.

[Sig]

To be fair, many of those same freedoms were written into our constitution by people with a deep and abiding knowledge of the law.

I think it's a sad commentary that we have so little faith in our political leadership, and yet still so little participation. It seems that the same people who say they have little or no trust in Congress should be the ones writing letters, researching issues, and even campaigning for people they do trust. In reality, most people I know just disengage entirely from the political arena.

Erm, that reminds me. I need to re-register to vote again. =) Should be interesting trying to figure out who's who and what's what from over here (Afgh).

Sig

[Roach]

I have to wonder when I read this kind of populist tirade against everyone and everything but the military whether you are all that familiar with these other institutions, e.g., journalism, law, etc.

Did you go to law school?
Have you ever written a newspaper article?
Has your only experience with lawyers ben a divorce or the county lock-up? Have you read a brief? Have you read an entire piece of legislation? An appropriations bill?

It's often noted, and rightly, that many critics of the military do not know what they're talking about because of a lack of familiarity with the institution, with combat, and with the requirements of each. But why are you so self-certain about lawyers and academics etc. Have you considered it's possible that your own informal knowledge of these things from TV, movies, the pop culture and the like may be misleading and incomplete?

I also must observe your continuation of a disturbing trend in right-wing thingking: this kind of militaristic notion that the military is the last repository of real virtue and competence in our society--in particular, in contrast to politicians and lawyers. It's the talk of coups. Why should this corrupt, inefficient democratic system govern, suffused as it is with lawyers, when the noble military can run things? I realize you're not saying that, but you're laying the ground-work for that type of thinking. This lack of respect for other professions and their own ethos and logic--in the case of laywers defined by loyalty to the client within the law--shows a kind of parochialism and lack of real perspective.

Lawyers in particualr do not have the luxury of having the conflicts they address be with evil, foreign powers and entities such as Saddam and bin Laden. They come into play when there is a human conflict within our society: a crime, a divorce, a rip-off, etc. In societies with a less developed legal system without as many lawyers and greater degrees of corruption, these matters are settled on the basis of family relations and bribes or private violence. Not here. We sue. And these suits are expensive, and annoying, and troublesome to everyone involved. But the alternatives are many times worse. Consider what it's like to live in societies with fewer lawyers such as Russia or Mexico. At the end of the day, US markets attract foreign investment and allow wealth creation because of the stability and predictability of our legal system. Even stable civilized societies like Japan with far fewer lawyers and less of a tradition of civil liberties are less pleasant in important respects; if you're accused of a crime, the chances of being exhonerated are basically zero.

Uncle Jimbo says in regard to property rights and constitutionalism, "Lawyers were invented to twist the most excellent concepts you mention. They exist in spite of lawyers, not because of them." This is just a moronic statement made without any support. The common law courts of England refined and defined these concepts over one hundred years. Almost all of the founding fathers had studied and practiced law. The realtionship of law, the common law courts, and our system of government is well developed in Blackstone, who was widely read by the founders. Lawyers have historically stood up for unpopular minorities when no one else would, in particular innocents accused of crimes and minorities whose rights were invaded by majorities no less certain of their virtue than Uncle Jimbo.

This populist ranting against everything not the military is unworthy of this blog and educated people generally.