I don’t know about that….if modern conservatism was about selfishness, military and police servicemembers won’t be spouting conservative rhetoric and playing Fox News in police stations and military bases.
That may be true, but that’s small-c conservative, not necessarily the populist, religious, brand of conservatism that we see dominating that side of the political spectrum today.
I’d also be willing to bet that the officers take their commissioning oaths and their responsibilities to the country very seriously.
So while they may be conservative, they may not be as Trump-tolerant as we suspect.
I tend to view a lot of this as a fundamental disagreement in the roles and responsibilities of government. The conservatives look at it as being essentially limited, and that much of what we have today shouldn’t actually be in the purview of government. Meanwhile, the liberals take the (IMO equally wrong) view that the government has the deepest pockets and the most power, so it should naturally be an agent of doing good/improving lives.
That’s largely the base argument about single payer healthcare; one side looks at it as something government isn’t/shouldn’t be in the business of doing, and the other looks at it as the government is the only entity capable of actually providing it to ALL.
Because we have all seen how fairly those both in the military and out are treated for espousing opinions not those of the far right. People are getting demoted, fired and basically pilloried all over the place based on rumors that they do not fully support the Right. Reports that the military are spouting far right rhetoric are being pushed by far right media outlets-it is no small wonder that you hear of it that often. You are mistaking the frequency of this reporting for the accuracy of this reporting.
That’s because Bannon, Miller, Vought and Hegseth want to ban “the deep state”. They are paranoid and crazy people.
Hegseth doesn’t want to be fired by Trump, if Trump fires him, Michael Flynn will be the next Defense Secretary. So Hegseth is on pins and needles.
Modern conservativism tends to put the individual actor above society. That’s why they want fewer regulations and the freedom to pollute or otherwise harm the environment; and sell ineffective or adulterated medicines, spoiled or contaminated food, or dangerous consumer products. That’s why they are against masking and vaccines. It comes down to their self-interest and happiness being more important than the well-being of others or the environment. That’s why they don’t want the government taxing them to address these issues or to help people who are poor or disabled.
There’s a simple word for this: selfishness.
At best, conservatives think that market forces will cure these ills instead of the government, but they seem to have never heard of the tragedy of the commons. To wit, nobody owns the air and public water. So there are no market forces that exist to protect it. Or they think that God will take care of it, or the Rapture will occur and they won’t have to worry about it.
As for the military and police, unfortunately, not all people who join do so out of altruistic sense of servitude. (If that were the case they might be just as likely to join the Peace Corps or work for Habitat for Humanity.) Some people join the military mainly for the pay and benefits (which have swung to the opposite extreme since Reagan first started increasing it). And unfortunately some people join the military or police because they like the power trip and get to play with guns.
In short, it is not necessary the case that conservatives join the military or police primarily out of a sense of selflessness. And since I see ample evidence for the selfishness of conservatives in so many other contexts, I think it far more likely that conservatives are over-represented in the military (at least in certain branches) and police due to other reasons.
The issue may be not the simple demographics of the military, although it is majority white males, but the internal divisions between the white males and everybody else. The record makes for difficult reading.
The U.S. military has a problem it doesn’t want to acknowledge: Despite increased efforts to bar them from enlisting, white nationalists have continued to infiltrate all branches of the U.S. military. According to a recent poll conducted by Militarytimes.com, 36% of the 1,630 active-duty troops it surveyed reported they had personally witnessed examples of “white nationalism or ideological-driven racism within the ranks in recent months.” If this same percentage is extrapolated to the whole population of active-duty troops (about 1.3 million in December 2019), that would mean nearly half a million troops have witnessed examples of white nationalism in the ranks in recent months…
A search of incidents of white nationalism in the U.S. military since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, reveals dozens of cases of white nationalists in the military—and these are just the examples of troops who have been caught, written about in the media, and punished. If we are to believe that up to 36% of troops today have recently witnessed white nationalism or ideological-driven racism in the ranks, we must also conclude that the vast majority of white nationalists in the military not only slip through the cracks during the recruitment process, but that they also remain undetected, unaccounted for, and unpunished.
[H.A.S.C. No. 116-63] ALARMING INCIDENTS OF WHITE SUPREMACY IN THE MILITARY
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL OF THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
Hearing called in response to the report in the previous cite.
Neo-Nazi Sympathizers Slip Into U.S. Military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Neo-Nazis and other white supremacists have increasingly been able to infiltrate the U.S. military due to recruitment pressures created by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a watchdog group said Friday.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist activities in the United States, said thousands of hate group members are now in the armed forces, especially in the Army, increasing the threat of domestic terrorism.
Senior Leaders Focused on Restoring Trust as DOD Makes Sexual Assault Reforms
“The IRC found a significant gap — across the department — between what senior leaders think is happening under their commands and what service members actually experience,” she said. “It further found that victims do not trust commanders to do justice in sexual harassment and sexual assault cases.”
These are recent articles. If I were to go back, the records shows that these problems grew markedly worse after 9/11, another time of schisms and hatred in the country.
At best, the military is a large river befouled by untreated sewage leaking into the system. At worst, the military has been overtaken by the sewage.
A Google search gives the following information:
-
Officers: A June 2025 analysis of political donations found that military officer donors were approximately 70% conservative, 25% liberal, and 5% centrist. A 2012 study also noted that officers are more likely to be Republican, with the affinity being strongest at the highest ranks.
-
Enlisted personnel: A 2012 study showed that only 37% of enlisted personnel identify as either Republican or Democrat, compared to two-thirds of officers. This suggests that enlisted members are much more likely to be independent.
-
Generational differences: Older, senior-ranking officers who joined the service during the Cold War era tend to be more Republican. By contrast, junior officers who entered the military more recently show a closer balance between Democrats and Republicans.
-
Regional recruitment patterns: Research indicates that rural populations, which tend to lean Republican, are overrepresented in the military.
-
All-volunteer force: Some analyses suggest that the shift to an all-volunteer military may have increased Republican affiliation within the service.