Patriotism

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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. After bribes fail and assasins fail the military takes over. Corporate greed is the only reason we fight. This is required reading for all patriotic citizens of the USA. From $5.99.

Who really "Supports" the Troops?

Every military action has the same elements: the government who sends the troops to battles, the soldiers, war protesters and war supporters. The story for the soldier, the war protesters and war supporters, in all military actions is the same. The “war protesters” want the troops out of harms way due to (in their minds) an ennoble reason for sending the troops into harm’s way.  The “war supporters” get upset when “war protesters” demand an end to “the war”, because “it makes the soldier lose faith in the cause.”  War supporters get upset when war protesters make claims that “the war” is “not altruistic” because “we have many stories of the soldier’s altruism shining through on the battlefield.”  (War supporters often get confused about who needs to be altruistic. Hint: it’s our government who needs to be altruistic. A soldier’s altruism is already established when he/she enlists.)

Soldiers are individual human beings so of course the reality is that their emotions and opinions about the war are going to be as wide and varied as the general public’s opinion.  You’d have to be really ignorant to think that anyone would dare to question the altruism of a soldier.  The simple fact that a person signs up to become a soldier, war or no war, is an act of altruism.  He or she by signing up for military service states loud and clear that they are willing to lay down their life for their country.

What the “war protesters” are protesting in every war is the misuse of these altruistic human beings that have said to the government, “Take my life and use it to help mankind.” Therefore, it is the government’s cause and altruism that is called into question by war protesters, not the soldier’s altruism. The soldier’s duty is to survive and make it out alive.  He/she does not “ask or reason why” when the order to “go” comes down they just ensure that they are ready to go.

For the soldier, it doesn’t matter (until after the war) if they are being used for a good or bad cause; their duty is to fight to the best of their ability and ask questions later. The government’s job, and the job of the citizens of the soldier’s country, is to ensure that the soldier’s life is not needlessly placed in harms way.  Therefore it is the citizen’s job to question and ask “why” on behalf of the soldier.  Those that will not question our government’s rationale for war fail to support the troops.  If the government tells the troops to jump off a cliff, will a person who supports the troops cheer them on and tell them to jump as far as they can or does a troop supporter tell the commander-in-chief “you will not send the troops off a cliff on my watch”?

Unfortunately in a capitalistic society which is dependent on acquiring more and more resources to fill an insatiable appetite for mammon, the soldier is often used as a pawn to acquire more resources so rich business people can make more money.  Failing to see this, many Americans, especially the Christian Right, blindly support the war instead of thinking that there might be more pressing domestic problems that the troops could help to resolve;  problems that do not cost the soldier his/her life. If American’s cared half an ounce about the troops they might stop and question the government’s reason for war and whether or not the soldier’s life is an appropriate price to pay for that reason.  As Richard Cheney once said, “And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is not very damned many” (Connelly). (More...)

References:

Connelly, Joel. In the Northwest: Bush – Cheney Flip-Flops Cost America in Blood. The   Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 29 Sept. 2004 <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com /connelly/192828_joel29.html>.

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