For every farmer and store owner there is like 50 guards.. How can the yarles afford that kind of over head? I mean how does he pay them? A bunch of low down dirty commies if you ask me!

Skyrim is also a land of Nords. A TES version of the Viking or Barbarian where every Nord male is a warrior/hunter. Of course not all in Skyrim are but it is under Empire control so things change and the old ways are being forgotten. This is why the Stormcloaks are Rebelling.

Yeah, I went to Dragon Bridge, a mill town outside Solitude, and there were a bunch of soldiers there. The citizens were really mad about it. It all seemed very American revolution-y to me. I had to bribe them when one caught me pickpocketing someone.

Or maybe Skyrim is a land in the midst of a civil war so the Jarls are positioning troops to safeguard valuable assets like their sources of food.

It's a civil war... Guards are going to be everywhere.

I don't think it's just because of the war. It's to keep an eye out for dragons and sweetroll thieves.

+1
Yeah I wouldn't trust me either lol