Overwhelming Number of Americans Would Not Volunteer to Fight if US Entered Major Conflict: Poll

In Israel, every citizen is required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces for at least a year.

Over the past month, we have been inundated with pictures and videos of 18- and 19-year-old service members, away from their families and in harm’s way to protect their country.

As we watch the conflict in the Middle East unfold, the question arises — would Americans be ready to fight for our country if we were pulled into a major war?

A recent poll by the research institute Echelon Insights found that 72 percent of Americans say they would not volunteer for military service in a major war, according to Newsweek.

“The figures come as all branches of the armed forces have in recent years struggled to meet their recruitment targets, suggesting a growing apathy towards a career of military service,” Newsweek reported.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 23 and 26 among 1,029 likely voters. Newsweek did not provide the margin of error.

Another recent survey found that less than half of Democrats would be willing to die for our country in the event of an invasion, and around 30 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds would rather surrender to the enemy than fight, according to the Daily Mail.

These shifting attitudes about duty and sacrifice do not bode well for our national security.

To be fair — as David Eustice, CEO of Military Recruiting Experts, pointed out to Newsweek — context matters. Americans have historically rallied during conflicts with clear-cut moral purposes, like World War II after Pearl Harbor or Afghanistan after 9/11.

But there are good reasons to believe this time is different.

For starters, young Americans have been steeped in a culture that denigrates patriotism and fixates on the failures of our past.

For decades, colleges have promoted the narrative that American and Western values are synonymous with racism, colonialism and oppression — and it’s bearing some particularly nasty fruit.

For example, we have recently seen some on the American left justify terrorism and accuse the U.S. of “genocide” for supporting Israel against Hamas. The long, messy war in Afghanistan only added to this pessimistic view of America’s role in the world.

Add to that the undeniable fact that today’s generation of Americans is weaker and more coddled than any generation before, leading ever more digital lives. Would they be able to withstand the rigors taken on by the “Greatest Generation”?

Of course, the U.S. military itself bears some of the blame, having embraced the worst excesses of the woke left and forced service members to serve as lab rats for the newly released COVID-19 vaccines.

While the costs of war must never be minimized, a citizenry that has lost its will to fight for its nation is doomed.

The threats multiplying globally already constitute a slow-boiling crisis, and Americans have grown flabby and simultaneously self-righteous and self-hating.

Let us hope it doesn’t take another tragedy to jolt us out of our complacency.