Tea at Trianon: We Need More GIs, Not More Generals

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, May 9, 2025

We Need More GIs, Not More Generals

From Amuse on X:

In 1945, at the apogee of American military might, the United States fielded over 12 million active-duty service members. The war effort spanned continents and oceans, engaging enemies on two fronts with ferocious intensity. Amid this global conflagration, the military maintained a ratio of one general or admiral for every 6,000 troops. Fast-forward to 2025, and a sobering inversion appears: with just 1.35 million active-duty personnel, the Pentagon now houses one flag officer for every 1,400 troops. This is not progress. It is bureaucratic bloat masquerading as modernization. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in a landmark reform announcement, has resolved to reverse this trend. With the full backing of President Trump, Hegseth has proposed a phased reduction of general and flag officers across all branches of the military, a minimum of 20% initially, with an additional 10% following a strategic review. These are not arbitrary cuts but carefully calculated adjustments to align military leadership with operational necessity. The slogan is simple: less brass, more GIs. The rationale is anything but simplistic. (Read more.)