IN SUPPORT of Rangle - Reader comments at The New York Sun

Reader comment on:
Rangel Adopts the Logic of Kerry's ‘Joke'

Submitted by Randall H., Nov 28, 2006 13:44

Oh, here we go.... let someone seem to defame the young soldiers of America, and a flood of numbskulls crawls out of the woodwork to blast and berate him and make the ever-cheap accusation that he's "unpatriotic." Listen up, folks. What Rangle was clearly criticizing is the way we continually allow our government leaders--who are themselves, generally, people of privilege, and who are often beholden to special interests of all kinds--to use our youth as cannon fodder whenever they see fit, for whatever stupid and misguided cause. This past election proved that a big chunk of America has come to realize what Bush and his neo-con cronies have denied all along: that the war in Iraq was a huge mistake and has ended up accomplishing little, if any good, and has perhaps only made a bad situation worse. But yeah, god forbid any of you take your anger and indignation to the President, where it belongs. No, you see, Bush would stand there and give you the platitudinous nonsense that you enjoy hearing; that our wonderful troops are doing a great job, that they're doing their patriotic duty, that they deserve our respect and gratitude... ad nauseum. And you'd go away happy and satisfied, saying to yourselves, "at least Bush pays the proper homage to our soldiers" and then sling your invectives at someone like Charles Rangle, who just wants to wake you up and make you think, instead of just buying whatever shoddy goods the President would like to sell you.

Yes folks, we all know our soldiers are doing a good job and are patriotic, and we're all grateful that people sign up to do the job they do. But that isn't the point here. The point is, is it okay for a bunch of privileged rich-types--who are hopelessly distanced from the people they represent--to take our armed forces into whatever ill-conceived conflict they choose, knowing it's not they, nor their sons and daughters, who will have to fight?

Enough of the self-denial on this issue also. Yes, we all know there's a lot of people who sign up for military service because they simply feel it's their duty to serve. But none of us wants to admit that it's we, or our brothers, sons, uncles, or fathers that have to sign up for the military because it's the only way for a poor, under-privileged person to get an education and/or to find some means to make a halfway decent living. You can go on and on about how it's not like that for you or your family, but there comes a time when we have to recognize that the truth hurts, and all we're doing is avoiding the pain of it.

The thing Rangle was getting at is, because people like Bush and his cronies come from privileged backgrounds, because people like that don't have to face the bleak choices that life sometimes forces upon those of us of less-privileged stature, and because they have the power to do so, they think little of forcing your sons, brothers, uncles and fathers to go do their dirty work, when it literally is dirty work, when it's a dirty, stupid mistake of a war, fought for god-know-what-actual-reasons. (The "war on terror" or the war for oil? Who can say?) Members of my family, including my father, served with distinction in WWII... in combat, not behind desks. One of my uncles, however, decided to go back in to the service when the Korean War broke out. He was killed there. He had risked his life for his country at the invasion of Normandy and all throughout the push into Germany. But he was killed, finally, in a war of questionable value or sense. My father always thought that his brother had made a terrible mistake and had thrown his life away for nothing. I'm forced to agree. It's a matter of honor, yes, to volunteer to fight. But honor should go both ways. Presidents, politicians, statesmen and diplomats owe it to us and to our children to not involve our country in meaningless, stupid, and dishonest wars. Now of course it's not always cut and dry. The value of the Korean War is perhaps debatable. It was clearer that a war like Viet Nam was an out-and-out mistake, and not only that but an injust war... and it's clear that the same can be said for Iraq. If we let self-serving, dim-witted men like Bush lead us into such wars, allowing ourselves to be lulled into supporting them because they mouth the cheap words that we want to hear, words that assure us that we are patriotic and are doing our duty if we line up behind them, then we deserve what we get. Whether you agree with Charles Rangle or not, he is in fact doing the duty of a citizen, leader, and statesman in a democracy; he is forcing us to face the hard questions and he is speaking critically of our policies. He's also not backing off from what we consider to be sacred. Fine, you don't have to like what he said or agree with it. But realize that he's trying to make a point about fairness. Stop feeling insulted by Rangle and realize he wouldn't have to say what he said if it wasn't for the far larger insult played upon you by the Bush administration.

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Rangel Adopts the Logic of Kerry's ‘Joke'

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Rangel Adopts the Logic of Kerry's ‘Joke'