Even in the Traditionalist Era, a military still existed albeit not funded very much (if at all) and was of little to no priority. The role of it at the time was more of a militia rather than a true force as it primarily performed law enforcement duties. It was fairly blurred with the police. This was to deter anyone from invading and dragging Lightford into foreign affairs. Similar to armed neutrality of Switzerland. This has inadvertently created a image that Lightford is internally pacifistic and peaceful due to its isolation, thus attracting an incredible influx of immigrants. Due to the lack of information by Lightford shared to the rest of the world, that was only an assumption. Immigrants and other minorities suffered racist, xenophobic, nativist, and prejudiced attitudes of people and the police. De facto segregation has forced whites and non-whites to be separate from each other. It wasn't until the passage of the 16th Amendment of the Constitution that actually resulted in a internally peaceful Lightfordian society. It banned discrimination and granted equal rights for everyone (except LGBT people in practice). While it wasn't internationally involved, it has largely became a economic hegemon due to its high contactless trade with the world which has attributed to its economic boom.
Article IX of the Lightfordian constitution (I'm planning to make a dispatch of the entire document) deals with the military and law enforcement. Section 1 of it states that "A regular defense force must be maintained at all times irrespective of peace", explaining its permanent existence. During the Traditionalist Era, there were several desperate attempts to add a constitutional amendment repelling Section 1 of Article IX and abolish the military. None of them have succeeded due to fears that security would be shed. There was one attempt that NEARLY succeeded. That was in 1922 when a amendment passed in the House of Representatives but failed by just one vote in the Senate.
During Hollis Pickering's presidency, the Great Depression has hit Lightford. This has damaged him and the Conservative party due to his passivity. Even his own party was pitted against him. In the 1930 legislative midterm elections, the liberals regained control of the Congress after 42 years since their last grip on it in 1888. On 11 August, 1931, the Lightfordian Civil War (I'm making a factbook of that so I'll only summarize here) broke out when expatriates, defectors deported from Lightford, former students, indoctrinated in Soviet schools, and scholars carried a communist insurrection against the government. The two events have proven that isolationism has became an obsolete ideology. They in turn also severely eroded Lightford's strength including its economic status. The Conservative party stopped espousing isolationism in its 1932 platform and no major political party since then has supported the said ideology.
Hollis Pickering maintained his anti-militaristic views. The Congress passed numerous bills pertaining to the Great Depression and the Lightfordian Civil War. All of his vetos were overridden by the Congress. His reputation is permanently marred as he was blamed for being passive about the Great Depression, the Lightfordian Civil War, and the losses of territory to insurgent forces. In the 1932 election, Rowan Hendry has defeated Hollis Pickering. This has marked the first shift to a different political party in 44 years since 1888 and the liberals took back all institutions of the government. It rebirthed liberalism and Lightford has been recommitted to the principles of liberal democracy after years of gradual democratic backslide. The election has also effectively ended the de facto dominant party system and the two party system was reborn. The extremists have tried to use democratic means to seize power. But their share of votes was too low among the public thus hastening their aggression even more.
With Hendry's term beginning in 1933, he took a much more brazen role in economic recovery and the Lightfordian Civil War. The military was remobilized, promoted high spending, and launched a series of relief programs. Diplomatic relations were also reinstated with some countries for the first time since the Traditionalist Era. While the programs were considerably hampered by the war, this helped to hasten his popularity. Although the war was exacerbating the depression and hardships, it in turn also helped the economy recover as it presented new employment opportunities for fields such as manufacturing and helped improve employment in general. Eventually the military became trained and powerful enough to quell the insurrections. Despite instability, fair democratic elections remained uninterrupted and mostly transparent and mostly After 8 years of brutal fighting, the Lightfordian Civil War has ended on 30 September, 1939, when all rebel forces that were communists, nationalists (fascists), and Christian fundamentalists have all surrendered to the Lightfordian government.
The war has entrenched Lightford's status as a strong country. It inspired a new sense of unity and nationalism. The country ended up becoming wealthier than it was before the war and remained a developed country. When World War II broke out, Lightford decided to rebuild itself and refresh its armed forces rebuild instead before entering it despite the potential dangers it'll inflict on Lightford and the world if neglected. After France fell, Lightford declared war on the Axis on 8 July, 1940. That's where Lightford has finally came back to the international stage. When the war ended, it officially confirmed Lightford's status as a hegemony. The scars of the Lightfordian Civil War were considered to be fully healed by 1950. Every year and presidency since 1933, the armed forces and foreign affairs was of high priority. Defense funding was only cut during times of recession. The proportion of the defense expenditure has surged after the late 1970's when commodities such as healthcare, education, and housing were nationalized. That has largely increased the government expenditure and significantly reduced demands of funds to the said fields, as such much of the surplus savings were allocated to the military. The military is considered a fountain of patriotism by Lightfordians due to its essential meaning.
