A Stake in the Fight

The History of the Landed Citizen Soldier

Photo by Eduard Delputte on Unsplash

Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth faces the task of making America’s military great again. He’s rightly attacked the absurdities of Woke ideology weakening our armed forces, and eradicating it will be a top priority.

Will Mr. Hegseth also start handing out land grants to American soldiers? There’s a strong case to be made that he should.

Casting our eyes over history, we see an unexpected indicator of the health of a civilization and its military: are its soldiers citizens and do they own any land?

In a review of the course of nations, the absence of a national fighting force of land-owning men frequently appears as an indicator of economic, political, and military decline. As productive property (especially land) becomes concentrated into fewer and fewer hands—whether they be government officials or corporate oligarchs—the foundation of economic and military strength begins to crumble.