Memorial Day And Bad Politicians
2 comments May 27th, 2007
Today on the CBS “60 Minutes” news show there was presented a poignant and moving account of the two-year deployment by a unit from the Iowa National Guard. What struck me most about the presentation was how dichotomized America has become under the rule of bad politicians. On the one hand, we have the heroic volunteers who go courageously and without complaint off to war, supported by their equally patriotic and self-sacrificing families. Then, in sharp and often ugly contrast, are the politicians who sent these admirable men and also many women off to a war so friviously and ineptly constructed. Every American with a moral conscience should reflect on the fact that a tiny minority of volunteers and their families are dying and sacrificing for their country due to political malfeasance, while many citizens are enjoying shopping with their tax cuts, financed by driving the nation deeper into debt.
The quality of the national guardsmen and their families shined very brightly in that “60 Minutes” presentation, but the darkness of the bad politicians who have demanded this unfair sacrifice hung over the account with the all-consuming darkness of a torrential thunderstorm. These flawed politicians come from both dominating political parties. George W. Bush and what I describe in my book, “Hillary Clinton Nude,” as a clique of bloodthirsty non-combatants, meaning the neocons, are the architects of the Iraq calamity that is consuming so many of the most patriotic Americans as though they were cannon fodder. However, it must be recalled that many Democrats joined with the Republicans in Congress to grant George W. Bush the power to launch an unprovoked attack on Iraq without a congressional declaration of war, violating what was mandated in the Amercian constitution by the founding fathers. Foremost among these bad politicians was Hillary Rodham Clinton, who I maintain voted for the war based solely on narrow and selfish political calculation.
This memorial day, as Senator Clinton repositions herself as the anti-war candidate, let us reflect on the most recent sacrifices made by the small fraction of America’s population that has volunteered to fight the nation’s wars. Let us also reflect on the ways and means of best honoring their sacrifice, including the necessity that the next commander-in-chief be a person of honor and integrity, and not political expediency.
