We have always had our covert enemies, but their numbers were few until the 1960s. But then the elite young men who declined to serve in the military during the Vietnam War set out to write a narrative in which they, rather than those who obeyed the call to duty, were the heroes.While I think it is funny to laugh at the unintended meaning here (i.e. military whereabouts and now hawkish stands of Dick Cheney, George Bush, Denny Hastert, Bill Frist) this is a position that really burns me. It certainly seems that in today's debate on military engagement we are led by people who refused to step up when it was their time to serve. I don't think it is a simple case of hypocracy in their case, it is a simple case of cowardice and the American people should really think about what it means to elect these type of people.
That is not to suggest that anyone who has not served in the military is a coward. If, for example, I found out that Rush Limbaugh got arrested in 1968 for protesting the Vietnam war, I would give some mad props to ol' Tubby McGee. These people now espouse a position that is brutally militaristic, yet they were afraid to put their asses on the line when my father (by choice) and father-in-law (not by choice) were "in the shit". That is cowardice, and what that means for this country is that we have a lot of leaders who lack integrity.
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