Sir Henry Simmerson noisesA military is an instrument and organ of the state. It cannot be financially independent from the government because it is part of the government.
A nation could minimize the impact of its military’s financial reliance on the state by making every citizen a militiaman who is financially responsible for the maintenance of their arms following a term of mandatory service. A more effective alternative could also be to allow citizens to purchase military officer’s commissions, as was the case in Britain from the 17th to 19th centuries as well as Europe around the same time, while making those officers also finance the initial equipment and arms costs for their fighting company. It’s a similar thing to straight feudalism wherein a noble would be responsible for the quality of their own loyal knights or samurai and were themselves bound by law or tradition to second those forces to the emperor or king above them.
The Star Army itself seems pretty well insulated from intergalactic economics already by its design. One Neko can always make more Neko for free, and ships/starbases can fabricate more ships and even raw materials from space magic technologies.
As fun as Sharpe is, that’s a very anachronistic representation of the commission purchase system. During the Napoleonic Wars, combat attrition of officers was very high and resulted in the system working as intended to produce fine leaders. It was only during periods of long peace that brought about corruption and incompetence wherein ranks would be sold or auctioned at inflated rates to men who had no prospect of seeing active service, which is why it was abolished following the Crimean War that itself followed a long period of peace.Sir Henry Simmerson noises
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