Right now we have, for all practical purposes, a national army of mercenaries - NOT citizen soldiers.
Uh...how do you figure that? We have a military made up of patriots who have all volunteered to serve their country. Far better, in my opinion, than one made up of conscripts who mostly don't want to be there.
We have now undergone a shift in class perception, in that too many in the military now seem to see themselves as a separate "warrior class" and too many now believe that we the people serve them, instead of the other way around.
It's approximately a 50/50 split right now I'd estimate.
It's a natural form of elitism and isolationism.
Mandatory conscription tends to even the load and force the people to be aware of the decisions made by the particularly "warrior class" set of top brass in Washington.
Men like General John Kelly, who think nothing of calling General Robert E. Lee an "honorable man", for instance.
Warrior class militaries tend to insulate the people from the consequences of military adventurism, as was already stated above.
I add that the defense industry seeks an established warrior class as a natural grass roots lobby, so mandatory conscription also evens out the privateering tendencies.
