For Americans, the start of 2024 signals the coming election and brings to mind questions of which candidate best represents their values and who can bring back a semblance of sanity to our country. Red-state families, however, should also consider military service and the present foreign policy issues.
2023 brought on a continuation of the first major European war since WWII and saw multiple hot spots around the world ignite into potentially regional conflicts heading into the new year. Closer to home, all three U.S. servicemembers who died in the Iran-backed drone attack over the weekend were residents of the battleground state of Georgia.
Republican voters in particular should consider that based on a report for 2020, almost 48 percent of enlisted recruits across the Department of Defense, excluding the Coast Guard, were from states that voted Republican in 2020. When adding on the purple states of Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, the number jumps to about 56 percent. Prior polling and conventional wisdom have borne this out time and again.
In other words, red-state families are likely to bear the lion’s share of the burden and tragedy of combat casualties, should the U.S. intervene in another conflict around the globe. Statistically, it would be conservative families who would have to stare down at flag-draped coffins. Conservative mothers would be weeping for their fallen children after they defended some far-off land in the name of some U.S. national security interest. Why should conservatives continue to man the military with the
