Supporting the Troops (An Open Letter to the Far Right)
Supporting the troops is a far greater, more complex concept than merely waving the flag and blindly trusting the government. If there is to be any honor at all, it cannot be based on lies. Why is this so hard for the far right to understand?
The government has to earn trust everyday (be it in democratic or republican hands). Simple knee-jerk patriotism is not real patriotism at all and is far more akin to the rise of fascism than what our forefathers intended. Our very foundation is based on not allowing the government to have too much power. Why is it when it comes to taxes and social programs the far right understands this, but when it comes to war, they do not?
Dissent (and an unafraid, uncontrolled media) and a healthy probing into the motives of those who supposedly represent us are cornerstones of what it means to be an American, the very things that give us honor, the very things our soldiers died for in WWII...how ironic, then, that today as we pretend to be the arbiters of freedom in other parts of the world, our very freedoms are slowly being taken away from us...or have you forgotten?
When the military becomes a pawn for the expansion of corporations under the guise of 'liberation' (which of course was the last 'reason' used for taking over Iraq, after playing the fear card with trumped up charges and false connections—not to mention that they had a plan to attack Iraq directly after 9-11), our forefathers must be rolling over in their graves. But, if we sit back and do nothing or blindly aid and abet, then it is we who are dead—dead souls, at best sleepwalking on twisted roads of delusion and self-grandeur; at worst, morphing into some new kind of murderous, ignorant beast that hardly resembles the American that our forefathers envisaged.
You'd think we would've learned from Vietnam. As undersecretary to both Kennedy and Johnson, George Ball predicted as early as 1961 that there would be ‘tragic consequences’ if we escalated the war in Vietnam. Well, they didn’t listen then and they’re not listening now. Perhaps they never will.
And while the analogy to Vietnam is not exact, it does hold some general truths. Is this really the correct course of action? Is the government always right? Is the world really a safer place? Are we not just creating many more bin ladens in our rampant, random, lawless, vigilante attempts at ‘justice.’ How many have to die before it’s over? Is genocide the answer (as Kissinger had hoped when we were busy arming the Iraqis with WMD, as the use of depleted uranium could indicate, as the lust for more blood continues to grow)? Will it kill an idea?
With power comes responsibility. A responsibility to return to the rule of law. Is it too late to become civilized? Is it too late to lead by example?
Yes, support the troops. Support the innocent. Restore honor to the military. Bring them home and restore their only purpose--to protect and defend the country.
I’m not so naïve to believe that the military is not needed. Why should you be so naïve as to think that there are no ulterior motives for its use?
War is never to be taken lightly and there better be damn good reasons for it. Otherwise, there is no honor at all—only killers and victims, spurious slogans and the law of the jungle.
Supporting the troops is a far greater, more complex concept than merely waving the flag and blindly trusting the government. If there is to be any honor at all, it cannot be based on lies. Why is this so hard for the far right to understand?
The government has to earn trust everyday (be it in democratic or republican hands). Simple knee-jerk patriotism is not real patriotism at all and is far more akin to the rise of fascism than what our forefathers intended. Our very foundation is based on not allowing the government to have too much power. Why is it when it comes to taxes and social programs the far right understands this, but when it comes to war, they do not?
Dissent (and an unafraid, uncontrolled media) and a healthy probing into the motives of those who supposedly represent us are cornerstones of what it means to be an American, the very things that give us honor, the very things our soldiers died for in WWII...how ironic, then, that today as we pretend to be the arbiters of freedom in other parts of the world, our very freedoms are slowly being taken away from us...or have you forgotten?
When the military becomes a pawn for the expansion of corporations under the guise of 'liberation' (which of course was the last 'reason' used for taking over Iraq, after playing the fear card with trumped up charges and false connections—not to mention that they had a plan to attack Iraq directly after 9-11), our forefathers must be rolling over in their graves. But, if we sit back and do nothing or blindly aid and abet, then it is we who are dead—dead souls, at best sleepwalking on twisted roads of delusion and self-grandeur; at worst, morphing into some new kind of murderous, ignorant beast that hardly resembles the American that our forefathers envisaged.
You'd think we would've learned from Vietnam. As undersecretary to both Kennedy and Johnson, George Ball predicted as early as 1961 that there would be ‘tragic consequences’ if we escalated the war in Vietnam. Well, they didn’t listen then and they’re not listening now. Perhaps they never will.
And while the analogy to Vietnam is not exact, it does hold some general truths. Is this really the correct course of action? Is the government always right? Is the world really a safer place? Are we not just creating many more bin ladens in our rampant, random, lawless, vigilante attempts at ‘justice.’ How many have to die before it’s over? Is genocide the answer (as Kissinger had hoped when we were busy arming the Iraqis with WMD, as the use of depleted uranium could indicate, as the lust for more blood continues to grow)? Will it kill an idea?
With power comes responsibility. A responsibility to return to the rule of law. Is it too late to become civilized? Is it too late to lead by example?
Yes, support the troops. Support the innocent. Restore honor to the military. Bring them home and restore their only purpose--to protect and defend the country.
I’m not so naïve to believe that the military is not needed. Why should you be so naïve as to think that there are no ulterior motives for its use?
War is never to be taken lightly and there better be damn good reasons for it. Otherwise, there is no honor at all—only killers and victims, spurious slogans and the law of the jungle.
posted by rays | 2:05 PM
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