Quote:

the G-man said:
It is very common for conservatives to publicly disagree. See, eg, McCain vs Bush or "conservatives against the Patriot Act."

And, as noted waaayyy back in the original post to this thread, a liberal columnist was the one fretting that too many on the left were letting anti-war sentiment make them anti-America.

All I'm doing is giving the "liberals" a chance to state their views, to speak on behalf of "their" side, and discuss the issue themselves.

Isn't defining themselves preferable to conservatives defining them instead?



Fair enough. I don't know that I meet the qualifications to be called liberal, so here's where I'm coming from.

I came of age in the era of the Viet Nam war and was eligable to serve in the Army or Marines. The government insisted on my participation in the Selective Service process. When I declined to registerthey sent me a nasty letter saying that if I didn't report to my local Selective Service office in 14 days, the FBI would come to my house and arrest me. Seeing as how I was only 18 and had limited options, I complied. I was then subject to a lottery and drew the number 9. I would be drafted the following year. Fate intervened and I ruptured my ear drum playing water polo a few weeks later. I had a way to avoid conscription. I knew others who weren't so fortunate. Some managed to get into the Navy or Air Force where they could be a distance away from the carnage. To draw a swift boat assignment you really had to wanna. The point I'm making is that people didn't go to war because of some great patriotic ferver. They went because the alternative was to be someone's 18 year old girlfriend in a Federal Prison.

The situation with today's soldiers is very different. All of them enlisted for one reason or another. They wanted money for college or GI Bill benefits and perhaps because of the great patriotic feelings from the 9/11 catastrophe. Whatever their motivation, they walked into a recruiting office on their own volition and completed the process of enlistment. They signed a contract. I'm sure that somwhere in that document is mention of the fact you could be called into a combat role. A consequince there of could be death or dismemberment. You want the dough, you may have to go. Place your bet.

I do sympathize with them. They made a bad deal. They didn't know they were signing on for this crap. Kinda like making a bad deal on a car. But why should I respect that? What does it mean to support our troops? Can I do that while opposing the policy? How? I'm not in favour of spitting on the returning vets. I favour helping them re-adjust to civilian life. How else can I support them? Put a flag on my car?