Jack Kelly at the Post-Gazette has written an outstanding article on the Left’s continued mockery of our military:
Military Mockery: Democrats harbor outdated, outlandish views of those who serve our nation
The first thing to note is how stuck in Vietnam Sen. Kerry and Rep. Rangel are. The draft Army that fought that war was comprised chiefly of young men unable to obtain college deferments. Soldiers then had less education and lower intelligence than the youth population as a whole.
But this hasn’t been true since Ronald Reagan became president. The average service member today has more education and a higher IQ than do his or her civilian counterparts.
The facts of the socio- and economic- demographics of today’s army are indisputable — and those facts just don’t align with Kerry and Rangel’s outdated opinions of our current military. Sadly, it’s not just the wrong-headed opinion of two piss-poor politicians — it’s a widely held “truth” amongst the elitist Left.
But the real on-the-head-of-the-nail summary of the Left’s disdain and misunderstanding of military service is this:
But in 1970, I dropped out of law school to join the Marines as a private. I had reasons both noble and base. I was bored with school, tired of cold Wisconsin winters. I wondered if I were man enough to be a Marine. But mostly, it was because my country was at war.
Our country is again at war. Yet it does not occur to Charlie Rangel or John Kerry that bright young people today enlist in the Armed Forces to protect their homes, their families, our freedoms.
For many Democrats, being an American is all about rights, not duties. Though the rights they demand would not exist were it not for the dwindling number of Americans willing to perform the duties of citizenship, they regard with barely concealed contempt those Americans whose sense of duty causes them to go in harm’s way. If America’s “leaders” have such attitudes, can the nation long survive?
Rangel and Kerry are right about one thing: a disproportionate number of Americans are shouldering the burdens of military service in this country. But it’s not minorities, and it’s not the uneducated. It is the right-of-center conservatives.
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h/t to Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard
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I support the military, unequivocally. However, I am really beginning to think that the volunteer military, as good as it is, is not respected nor supported in the manner it should be. And, I am beginning to think that a draft is, indeed, in order. Rangel’s rationale is wrong, but nonetheless, I think our young people need to learn what freedom really means. It isn’t without sacrifice. It isn’t free (despite the root). We can’t survive as a country without a strong military. Hell, the rest of the world depends on us whether they admit it or not. It’s the price of being an American at the same time it’s the privilege and gift of being an American. I even feel as though I should be doing my part – more than blabbing on this blog. I haven’t made any real sacrifices for my country.
Things are out of balance. We need to make some changes. I’m not smart enough to have the answers, I just see a need, an urgent need.
If the military really is centrist,be it right of center or left of center, that would be more than ample proof they are educated. The only people who are extremists, right or left, are either the uneducated ignorant, or the ivory tower brainwashed. One is as bad as the other. One has no intelligence, the other only imagines it does.
The draft would be the perfect cure for that. Not only will it insure a minimal amount of education, it will teach self-respect, initiative, and discipline.
Once they have spent two years, the ones who choose to remain can be afforded a chance for a college education, and further specialized job training. Of course, there would be limits on how many people can remain in the military, so only the top twenty percent or so would be able to go on. After all, there will be more arrivals the following year to make room for.
Even those who do not fall into that top twenty per cent tier would certainly benefit to a considerable degree, and be richer for the experience.