State of the Nation

In the various states of society, armies are recruited from very different motives. Barbarians are urged by the love of war; the citizens of a free republic may be prompted by a principle of duty; the subjects, or at least the nobles, of a monarchy are animated by a sentiment of honor; but the timid and luxurious inhabitants of a declining empire must be allured into the service by the hopes of profit, or compelled by the dread of punishment.

--Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 17.

In a society such as ours, the "all volunteer" military is composed, mainly, of the timid and luxurious inhabitants of a declining empire, though there are certainly barbarians in the ranks and the occasional republican and, perhaps, even a few coupon-clippers moved by a sense of honor and the spirit of adventure.

To understand the state of our nation, skip Presidential speechifying and read Tacitus and Gibbon.