I’m bestselling indie writer Teague de La Plaine. This is my weekly newsletter, where I talk about writing and self-publishing in addition to my own life. I keep the newsletter free, because I prefer you spend your money on my books.
As I build the worlds for my sci-fi stories, I’ve found myself studying the real systems that shape this one—government, economy, religion, the military, education, and media. What began as research for future civilizations has turned into an audit of our own. This series of essays is part of that exploration: a search for what our systems actually do, and how we might start designing better ones—here, now, before fiction catches up with fact.
The War Machine
Every empire calls its armies “defense forces.” Every flag frames its wars as reluctant necessity. But Stafford Beer’s axiom still applies: the purpose of a system is what it does. And what the modern military system does—consistently, across continents—is secure resources, enforce order, and preserve hierarchy. It defends the powerful from instability more than it defends the powerless from harm.
The Cult of Protection
The uniform carries moral gravity. “Service” implies sacrifice, courage, discipline. For many of us, those words are real—we’ve bled, sweated, and carried our dead under them. Yet even lived honor can be used as mythic insulation. The institution converts personal virtue into political capital. The soldier’s sincerity becomes the politician’s shield.
When the rhetoric says “national security,” ask what’s actually being secured. It’s usually shipping lanes, oil fields, mineral concessions, or favorable markets—not the safety of ordinary people. POSIWID: if deployments follow resources, then resources are the mission.
The Business of War
Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex; by now it’s simply the economy. Defense budgets are economic stimulus plans in camouflage. Weapons development funds research labs, contractors, entire congressional districts. Perpetual readiness justifies perpetual expenditure.
The result is a system that cannot afford peace. If peace breaks out, the stock drops. So “threats” must be managed like inventory—never fully resolved, only rotated.
Empire as Supply Chain
Bases circle the planet in a pattern that maps perfectly onto energy corridors and trade routes. These installations don’t just project force; they project predictability. The world’s flow of goods and data depends on a credible promise of violence should that flow be interrupted.
That’s not defense—it’s insurance for investors. The rifle becomes a derivative instrument, underwriting commerce.
The Human Cost
Inside the machine, individuals live by the code: duty, honor, mission. Those ideals are genuine. The system exploits them. Troops return home to bureaucratic neglect while contractors cash dividends. A trillion-dollar apparatus can deliver a missile in seconds but not a prosthetic in months.
That contradiction isn’t hypocrisy—it’s hierarchy behaving normally. The same logic that prioritizes profit over planet prioritizes profit over veterans.
Myth Maintenance
Societies must sanctify their soldiers; otherwise the system loses moral legitimacy. So culture builds the soldier-saint: pure, patriotic, apolitical. Questioning the institution becomes blasphemy. That taboo keeps the recruitment pipeline full and dissent manageable.
The effect is tragic: war becomes self-justifying. Each generation’s losses demand the next generation’s loyalty “so they didn’t die in vain.” The feedback loop closes.
The POSIWID Audit
Does the system preserve peace or manage conflict? — Manages.
Does it protect citizens or resources? — Resources.
Does it heal or exploit those who serve? — Exploits.
Does it reduce or reproduce enemies? — Reproduces.
By outcome, the purpose of the contemporary military is supremacy—maintaining access, not achieving stability.
From Warriors to Guardians
Yet the discipline, cohesion, and courage forged in uniform are precious materials. They can be reforged for a higher purpose. The next evolution of service isn’t disarmament—it’s redirection.
The Steward Corps—Human UNity’s replacement for the war economy—would channel that same rigor into planetary preservation: disaster relief, ecological restoration, crisis mediation, infrastructure repair. Training stays hard. Missions stay real. Only the enemy changes—from rival nations to entropy itself.
Principles of the Guardian Ethos:
Serve life, not empire.
Courage without conquest.
Discipline for regeneration.
Honor through repair.
A hurricane deployment should feel as demanding as a combat one—and as meaningful. Veterans would remain soldiers of order, just in a different theater.
Strategic Realism
True security isn’t domination; it’s resilience. A planet collapsing under droughts, fires, and migrations is a battlefield that no army can win. The mission set must expand from deterrence to preservation. Logistics, intelligence, and coordination—the military’s strengths—are exactly what a warming world needs.
Closing the Loop
The purpose of the current military system is what it does: project force for profit and control. The purpose of a re-imagined one must be what it proves: cooperation as strength, regeneration as defense.
War made us a planetary species by uniting us in fear. Peace will keep us one only if we learn to unite through purpose.
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