Moderates In The Military
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, MilitaryFrom an email conversation I had with SrA Michael Carpenter stationed at Nellis AFB right outside of Las Vegas, NV:
From what I’ve seen in the past 5 years, political views are as mixed in the military as they are in the civilian world. The main difference is the lack of extremes. No one can impose their views upon anyone else; they just have their own voice. On the other side of the coin, we can’t be reprimanded just for our own views. Yes we serve the President, yet many don’t like the man. No one says you have to respect the man, but we all have to respect the office and the power he has. I honestly don’t like the man, but he is the President for now, and until January 2009 the military is in his hands.
I think this is important to remember when we hear our leaders talking about supporting the troops. See, the troops must ultimately support our leaders regardless of their opinion of them, but our leaders say we must do the same thing in order to support the troops.
So I ask you…what’s more supportive of the troops? Questioning our leaders or acting like its our job to support the mission without question? What I think Bush and company tend to forget is we aren’t in their employ. It’s the other way around. We have a choice and we have a voice so it’s our duty as citizens and as Americans to exercise that right. And our leaders shouldn’t question those who do.
I appreciate the words of Mr. Carpenter, and if there’s anybody in the military who would like to share their feelings about how things are going, please leave your comments in the section below or email me personally.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 26th, 2007 and is filed under General Politics, Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 26th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
I like how “moderates” just became synonymous with being against Bush. Clever. All you pro-Bush military men and women are extreme partisans and ideological hacks.
April 26th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Nope. That’s not what I said and that’s not what he said. Try again.
And I’d love to hear from some pro-Bush military men and women. That’s why I posted this. Let’s get the conversation going about the pros and cons of the “support our troops” meme and what it really means.
April 26th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
It’s interesting that you use the term “meme” to describe what’s going on with the institutionalized patriotism that is being fed to us. It is a very appropriate implication you make -or perhaps that I just infer- that the very notion of support for young men and women might be SUCCESSFULLY coded into our collective conscience as a green light for the administration to do whatever it pleases. And if someone questions policy, they are unAmerican or unpatriotic. And the propogation of this sentiment is practically self-policed; you can see yellow-ribbon-bearers everywhere who are ready to pounce on the first commie-hippy to question the war.
The success of this tactic speaks to the ignorance of Joe American. Yes, I said it! We are a stupid lot of folk here in the U S of A. Case in point: On my way to work this very morning, I saw a 4×4 truck (domestic, of course) with two MASSIVE American flags posted on each side of the bed. As I approached from the rear, I saw several Bush stickers (along with the always-disgusting “marriage =” sticker).
::emphasize country twang for effect:: “i’m proud to be an AMERICAN, where at least i know i’m free…” -how ironic.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:44 am
I canot speak for all Military members any more than I can speak for all Americans, but I am part of both groups and I have opinions. I have a right to my opinions, as does every US Citizen. Consider that my disclaimer!
The military in general is like a focus group. A smaller selection of the population at any given time. The differences between military members and the AVERAGE citizen is the willingness to give back, and the discipline to act against ones will. I to have served under a president I didn’t agree with. I did so faithfully and honerably. It is correct to say that, on average, military members tend to be more moderate than the average citizen. MIlitary members tend to show more respect for their fellow citizens. Many of the extremists in this country could benifit greatly from heading a military members opinion.
Military members fight for many reasons. Most are not there for the little gifts like the GI bill and VA loans. We fight because we love our country and the citizens that call it home. Even for the citizens of the countries our government chooses to liberate. We fight for an ideal, for freedom. Something the average citizen takes for granted. If you really appreciate what we do, stop the bickering of the small stuff. Eliminate the need for a fight over gun control, eliminate the need for argument over civil rights. Make the laws at the federal level what they where intended to be; broad brush strokes that assist the states in governing of the people. There is no need for a federal law allowing things that should not be governed by federal law, like gun control or gay marriage.
The irony I see at the end of Dave’s comment is that noone in this country is truely free anymore. Our legislators have seen to that, one complex bill at a time.
TwoDogs (DosPeros), WTF? Who are you to critisize military men? What do you do for your ideals? Make belittling comments on a website? If you don’t like this country, change it, or leave. If you don’t like the Military, don’t join it. If you don’t like my ideals, tell me why. But don’t be a coward, hide behind a fake name and throw crap like a pissed off monkey!