I read an op-ed piece today in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that got me to thinking about politics and who really runs this country. The piece was not written by any of the dumbasses who work for the AJC, but it was a piece lifted from the New York Times and [inexplicably] renamed for use in the AJC. The article’s proper title is “A War for Us, Fought by Them” by William Broyles Jr.
Anyway, the piece was about the supposed support for a protracted war in the Middle East and whose children are being offered up to fight it. In a nutshell, Broyles rightly accuses the elite of avoiding military service and the elite-run government of this country of avoiding personal responsibility for this ongoing warmongering by avoiding bringing back the draft.
Broyles points to the fact “That there are no immediate family members of any of the prime civilian planners of this war serving in it — beginning with Bush and extending deep into the Defense Department. He goes on to say “Only one of the 535 members of Congress, Sen Tim Johnson of South Dakota, has a child in the war — and only half a dozen others have sons and daughters in the military. […] With few exceptions, the only men and women in military service are the profoundly patriotic or the economically needy.” I agree wholeheartedly.
If the children of the elite (and the politically powerful Baby Boomers) were fighting this war in increasingly hostile situations, I’ll just bet it’d be over by now. It’s easy for Bush and Cheney and the rest of those in Washington who avoided military service by claiming other priorities to push war and vengeance. Hey, it’s not thier asses, right?
And let’s talk a moment about those Boomers. They are our parents: over 60, retired, lots of voting power and lots of spending power. They are conservative and they think Bush hung the moon. Boomers have an inordinate amount of power in this country because, above all the reasons I just mentioned, THEY VOTE. We, the Gen Xers, have little power compared to them because the majority of us do not vote. I’ve been a registered voter for years and I relish casting my vote. I’ll particularly relish voting for anyone but Bush this year. But you know what? My vote will not win the election. I’m confident that Dubya will win and we’ll face 4 more years of his “sound economic plan” and evenhanded foreign policies. /end sarcasm
I feel this way because I know who’s in charge of this country and it ain’t US, my friends. It is not people in their 30s, it’s people in their 60s. They have all the money and they have all the lobbies. These people don’t give a rat’s ass about who’s fighting the war in Iraq. It’s not their kids, so yah, yah, let’s kick some towelhead ass!! These people don’t give a rat’s ass about whether or not we 30 year olds will have Social Security. As long as they get their free Viagra and free medical and free drug benefit, screw the rest of us. I can understand their thinking on this. I mean, they grew up with parents who did live just fine on their SS bennies and they expect the same.
But it’s not the same. It’s a different world now and it’s not realistic to expect what generations before had. Generations before didn’t have huge out of control national deficits that will take a decade to fix. They didn’t have drug companies and medical insurance companies running the goddamned government because they have lots of rich lobbyists to buy whatever votes they need. The Boomers didn’t live in a country run by the elite who shoulder no responsibility for their foreign wars. Hell no, the Boomers were up close and personal with war and the costs. EVERYONE fought in WWII. The draft was there and every family had losses. It was part of what brought this country together and won the damn war, people! EVERYONE sacrificed, from the President on down.
Which brings me back to the article. Although this writer is for the draft and he implies that there isn’t a draft because of the elite not wanting their children to have to fight, there is talk of reinstating the draft next year if the “war” in Iraq continues. Broyles’ thinking is that having a draft (a much more FAIR one than in the 60s) will equalize the responsibility by having kids from all economic strata represented.
All this goes back once again to being in charge. If we, the GenXers, want to change what’s happening in Washington, we’ve got to vote. We’ve got to dissent in any and all ways. In my life, I try to vote with my dollars and my voter registration card. I don’t shop at Walmart. I don’t vote for conservative christians who want to legislate my life. I don’t use Microsoft products. I recycle. I don’t drive a gas hogging SUV.
It’s personal responsibility that will change our world and it’s personal responsibility that will boot the old-assed, conservative war mongers out of Washington. It sure won’t happen with us sitting at home. Let’s take charge and change the world!
As a former member of the military, I can assure you that no one in the military wants to see the draft return. Not only is it unnecessary, but it would be detrimental to the effectiveness of the armed forces. Would you be willing to entrust your life to someone that’s not there by choice? Or if you cannot relate to that, think about how safe you would feel if your local firefighters and police officers were drafted instead of volunteering.
How does one go about making a draft ‘fair’? Eliminate exemptions and deferrals? Set quotas based on income or socio-economic background? What would be considered ‘fair’ to one group would be patently unfair to others. A big deal is made of the fact (if it is a fact) that no members of Congress have relatives serving in Iraq. Those that get inflamed over this idea don’t have an understanding of basic statistics. The U.S. population is 293+ million. The number of service members serving in or around Iraq is 167,000. That works out to a ratio of about 1750 to 1. So from an objective statistical standpoint, it is not at all unusual that among the less than 600 members of congress that there are no relatives serving in Iraq. By the same token, I would be willing to bet that you could find numerous low-income housing developments whose residents had no relatives serving in Iraq. But that wouldn’t be newsworthy.
Now about the Baby Boomers. So they’re to blame? These are the same people that protested the war in Vietnam, burned their bras, ripped up their draft cards, renounced capitalism, and denounced the establishment. But suddenly they have had a change of heart? Somehow I doubt it. So then, why are we at war? Here’s an op/ed piece from the NY Post that comes close to expressing MY sentiments: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/20645.htm . To blame the hatred of the U.S. on Bush is absurd. This war started in 1947 when the U.S. decided that a race of people (Jews) had a right to continued existence. Was Bush to blame in 1980 when Americans were held hostage for 444 days? How about in 1983 when the U.S. embassy and Marine Corp barracks in Beirut were bombed? Or 1993 when the World Trade Center was bombed? Or 1998 when two U.S. embassies in Africa were bombed? In fact, a very strong argument can be made supporting the idea that our muted response to those incidents in the 90’s emboldened those that carried out the 9/11 attacks. Although I give W an F in planning and execution, I have to at least give him high marks on initiative.
If you’ve made it this far, you have no doubt labeled me as a bible-thumping conservative. Hardly. Did I vote for Bush? Yes, only because he was the lesser of two weasels. Those bemoaning the recent hoopla over indecency on the airwaves are the same ones who have forgotten that Tipper “First Lady of Censorship” Gore is the main reason you can’t find recorded music in it’s original (unedited) form at your local department store. The religious right gives me the creeps in a major way. Abortion? A sadly necessary evil, but should include the father in the decision process. Healthcare? If ever there was an area in need of strong government regulation, that would be it. Same with other areas of basic human needs. Banning gay marriages? What a freakin waste of time and effort. No one should give a shit whether 2 people of the same sex want to get married. Just be careful what you wish for. I also support the decriminalization of marijuana and prostitution. The environment? Kinda middle of the road there. It saddens me to see a forest cut down, but I would dearly love to turn the 3 pine trees in my front yard into toilet paper. Pine trees are evil. We own an SUV, but only drive it 4000 miles per year, so we use less gas and generate less pollution than any hybrid vehicle out there. We recycle. I don’t hunt and I could never harm an animal, but I’m not opposed to hunting if it’s a reasonably fair contest. And don’t take away my burgers. If we weren’t meant to eat meat, then our digestive systems would not be constructed to allow it. That’s how nature works. PETA is an embarrassment and does more harm for its cause than good. Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot, but so is Al Franken. If you think you have all of the answers, you’re an idiot too.
Thanks, Scott! I wish more people would take time to give awesome rebuttals to blogs and other posts online. (Scott and I graduated together from Karns High in Knoxville, TN)
I may not have made the same points, but we see eye to eye on most of what you say. (Except for the SUV thing, which I will never relent on the evils of SUVs!! LOL)
I don’t really think the draft will change anything as far as getting the elite to participate. You have a great point about forced participation, but if Dubya remains in office, then who’s gonna fight his little war? I’m under the impression that the military is stretched pretty thin as it is. I don’t really know, since I’m not a part of the military machine. And believe it or not, I DO feel that ALL terroristic groups should be eradicated. Unfortunately, I also feel that it’ll never happen. There are too many groups with too many agendas and too many hidey holes. We can try to kill ’em all and let Allah sort ’em out, but it’ll never stop terrorism. It’s in their very DNA. It’s cultural, spiritual and ingrained. Unless we intend to make the whole Middle East glass (as in by a big-assed nuke) then we’re pissing in the wind. You can ask anyone who knows me that I often advocate making that whole area glass. Why not? Those people haven’t contributed a single damned thing to this world other than misery and conflict for 2000 years! But, I digress…that’s another Rant for another day.
My parents are not technically Boomers since my dad was born in the 30s and my mother was born in 1942. They did not participate in the 60s rebellions at all. They are excrutiatingly conservative and narrow minded people – which is perhaps why I have a strong dislike for East Tennessee in general. I got that narrowminded crap shoved down my throat my whole life and it’s taken literally decades to shake off the damage.
I do NOT think you’re a bible thumper and I understand your “lesser of two weasels” theory. I didn’t feel there was much of a choice, either. Still don’t. I think the 2 party system is ridiculous and it keeps everything polarized.
We agree on healthcare. I think the problem is that private for-profit entities are running our healthcare system and until that is stopped we’ll remain a rich country where millions of people can’t see a doctor when they need one.
I’m not a vegetarian (although I went through a phase of it for about 3 years in my 20s). The human body can digest flesh, but for the record, it’s not very good at it. Protein actually sits in the gut and rots rather than being totally utilized as in a carnivore’s system. But, yes, I can’t live without a lovely rare steak or a beautiful lamb chop either!
It’s hard to make sense of the complicated issues that face this country and the world. No ONE person has the answers, but if more of us would at least DISCUSS our options, then maybe we’d end up better off than where we are.
What we need in this country is DISCOURSE. We’ve lost the ability to debate, discuss and learn from the views of others. Anyone who thinks that listening to a political “pundit” on the radio makes them well informed is indeed an idiot. I won’t listen to any of that stuff because I feel that it’s all hot air anyway (Rush Limbaugh is the perfect example of this). I like to read articles and talk to my peers about issues. Recently I was warned to “not tell [our neighbor] about your political views because it will piss him off”. Oh, it will, will it? Well, GOOD. If this guy is so insecure that he can’t even discuss differing views with anyone without getting pissed off and stomping away, then he is obviously too narrow minded to learn from the experience anyway.
Thanks, Scott for sharing your views. I really appreciate your contribution to my blog.
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