Do you really believe, George?
The "Yellow Republican" movement, under various names, has been rolling on for a long while during this "Time of War." The basic argument is that if the people who have launched, pressed and supported this war truly believe this is an action that will in part safeguard the nation from future acts of terror and bring democracy to other nations and create a more peaceful world, then why aren't those who are eligible and/or their military age children not enlisting?
A great deal of this was directed at pro-war bloggers, who then apparently kicked into high gear, expressing their outrage and declaring the idea as absurd while fishing around for actual answers. Their second wave of "response" was apparently to look for others who'd come up with something aside from empty outrage and then repeat whatever they could find in sufficient volumes and with such regularity that they took over most, though happily not all, of the first several pages of links one finds when plugging "chickenhawks, bloggers, why not enlist" into Google. The lead spot (as of my checking, most recently because it links to this) at least has stayed clear. That it quickly descends to "why didn't Chelsea join when some cruise missles were lobbed at suspected terrorist locations?" and "I guess these Liberals wonder why FDR didn't join the service?" bespeaks their desperation. Still, hey, this administration and its supporters thrives on making an argument by delivering nonsense, lies and distracting noise both in and at high volume. Repeat, repeat, repeat until the message appears to be part of the air itself. When people find themselves answering without thinking and hearing the same answer from others who've been similarly programmed, why, surely this must be The Truth.
Talking with different Rush Limbaugh/Fox News people on the same topics can be both amusing and a tad frightening, as the same phrasing often emerges. A few times I've almost started looking for large seed pods.
Back to the chickenhawk topic (and the seed for this post) one such site is the Petition of Redress.
In short, if this war is right for the nation and for all of those who are serving extended terms in Iraqm then it should be right for at least some of the Bush brood. If not, then end this farce and bring the troops home or at least explain what vital work these Bushlings are doing for the nation. After all, it couldn't be that they and their like don't because they simply don't have to worry about what they'd do for a steady income and health insurance in the U.S. if they weren't in the service, could it?
I'm horribly pressed for time today, but I wanted to take a few moments to at least note the above. My Sunday spilled into Monday and left me wiped out, and Tuesday's to be my catch-up day for various work prohject, etc. (Thanks to Grant for mentioning the petition to me.)
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Comments
We don't need the people in power to send their kids to fight and die; we need to focus on the root of our problem and deal with it at the source. And we need to start living different lives if we want to change the system.
Like the cliche goes, "Let peace begin with me."
I will not hate George Bush. I will not call for the sacrifice of his children. I will instead sacrifice the things in my life that contribute to this corrupt system. If enough of us do that, things will change.
The Bush Administration is a major source of these problems. Changing that - reigning that and their seeming call to holy missions in - is an excellent place to start.
Buying into the opposing the Bush administration = hating Bush is ludicrous. It's more, calculated, misdirection, the way they attempt to characterize protestors against the administration as people who "hate America" and those who oppose the war as being hostile to the troops themselves -- including drawing on the largely mythical lore of the spat-upon Viet nam vet. (Seriously, try to find historical evidence -- people draw on what they saw in movies and hearsay.)
The GOP has done a fantastic, brilliant job of marketing themselves as the Real Americans for over a decade, and if one's not on guard against it the characterizations of both themselves and their opposition will pervade one's perspectives. They've kept to tight messages, shifting lists of sure-sounding talking points, which are dispersed and repeated until they are heard so often that people accept them as fact.
Coming back to this petition -- which I noted was just the most recent of similar, broader efforts, the earlier ones targeting those who have been outspoken in favor of the invasion and occupation of Iraq -- it's important to not be too narrow in viewing it. The message is Why are these people asking people (nearly all of whom are from vastly lower economic classes) to make sacrifices that they aren't willing to make?
And for the record, I'd rather not see anyone else die in this unsanctioned war...but only George Bush holds the power to stop that particular madness. No matter how much I may wish I did.
When I say that people hate Bush, I mean that they say that he's a murderer or terrorist. When they say he's stupid, call him names, say that it would be good for him to be assassinated. When they come right out and say they hate him.
And if people want to hate him, that's okay. But if they say that they are for peace and yet preach hate, I have a problem with that. (Especially if someone claims to be a Christian and they say that.)
I do not buy into the propoganda of this war. I just think there's a better way to go about opposing it.
I'm sorry that you think my beliefs are meaningless cliches. I prefer to think of them as simple, yet to difficult to live by. I certainly find meaning in treating people well, simplifying my life, and actively choosing a peaceful path when I have the choice.
Pursuing a life of peace is hard work, and I choose to do it on a personal level. In fact, I believe that unless there is a fundamental change in the way we do nearly everything from conducting commerce to the way we relate to each other, we are doomed to go from one armed conflict to another until we destroy ourselves.
The only way to enact that change is to live my life differently, and encourage others to do so as well. Meaningless? Perhaps. But I find meaning here. Cliched? Man, I wish this was so commonplace as to be a cliche.
We're not likely to connect on at least some of this, though, especially as I can't easily conceive of a reasonable and informed person at any point during the past 5 years looking at G.W. Bush and finding him to be the best candidate running for the presidency.
Even if the absolute worst things said about Gore or Kerry (say, the charges that they had no principles and looked to polls for what to do) were true, they were better choices than this march to a new Holy American Empire, the press towards following a flawed path that declares this a nation founded as a Christian one, that all laws devolve from God's Word, and the enshrining of economic policies to lock wealth and property into family and corporate dynasties. Bush looked and sounded terrible from the start, and it's been downhill ever since.
Rather, it was the lack of what I heard. I didn't hear any real plan to change things. People say we have a two-party system, but I don't believe it.
Both parties take money from the same people. They go to the same schools, belong to the same clubs, travel in the same circles, and thrive on the same corrupt system.
The biggest thing both Gore and Kerry had in their favor was they weren't George Bush.
That wasn't enough for me.
I don't hate Bush, but I don't like him much, either. I just thought he was better at the job than either of the choices presented to us.
Frankly, I'm hoping Hilary will run. I would be happy to not only vote for her, but work for her campaign. I haven't done that since Carter ran for president.
As I noted before, I think she would have a terrible time as a candidate, but I believe she would make a strong president.
Another thing used to dispirit the Democratic voter was the idea that their candidates were each running on a "I'm not George Bush" campaign, which simply wasn't true. (And sidesteps the issue that so much of the Bush 2000 campaign boiled down to "I'm not Bill Clinton, but Al Gore both worked with him and didn't distance himself far enough from him!") Each had proposals, but they were sidelined by a public that didn't want to think. Gore, for example, was looking to safeguard Social Security by creating a fiscal "lockbox" for it. His opponents came in with organized talking points to try to discredit it on one hand by saying it didn't work that way (which was the point of Gore's thrust, as it was then and is now a slush fund) and on the other by making jokes about "lockbox" that helped make it a meaningless catch phrase.
Too many in the public wanted the simple & simplistic messages of the Bush campaign, so they could pretend it was all about character (or religiously-driven moral issues), shut their minds off and vote Bush. In several respects it was the 1980 Reagan campaign again. Morning in America. Don't listen to those whiners who tell you there are problems. Don't they love this nation? This is a great nation, and all will be right. Be proud. As a first-time voter back in '80 I was hoodwinked by that message to my eternal shame. Not again.
At least Reagan had charisma, though. Whatever the Bush appeal is eludes me. I guess one can buy just about anything with enough money.
terrorist he created by launching this illegal war, but why start putting reason into this insanity?
The president, standing against a backdrop of the USS Ronald Reagan, the newest aircraft carrier in the Navy's fleet, said terrorists would be denied their goal of making Iraq a base from which to recruit followers, train them, and finance attacks.
''We will defeat the terrorists," Bush said. ''We will build a free Iraq that will fight terrorists instead of giving them aid and sanctuary."
And that is Why We Fight. And if you believe this is a just cause, be part of that fight. The first twins aren't even appearing at the Red Cross to talk about the need to give blood. However, their father wants YOUR blood on the sands of Iraq. The petition is plain and simple. It speaks for itself. Rehashing two rigged elections is meaningless.
There are war protesters willing to risk jail opposing this government. They've been beaten, gassed, locked up and brutalized.
Is it asking too much for war supporters to enlist? Is it asking too much for the Bush twins to at least donate some time to the USO?
If so, then we should get the hell out of Iraq NOW. It's that simple.
Grant
Dwight
Grant -- just curious.
That's all.