Bulldog Skin

Shorter von:

The U.S. military fights wars, it doesn't guard our culture.

Right. Oh, and about this shit, by Charles M. Province, a veteran of the US Army:

It is the Soldier, not the minister
   Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
   Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
   Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
   Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
   Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
   Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
   Who serves beneath the flag,
   And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
   Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

This one has been emailed around quite a bit recently. Mr. Province, you're just mistaken. The rights you listed are actually secured by the minister, the reporter, the poet, the campus organizer, the lawyer, the politician and the protester, usually in the face of a hostile government, and doesn't involve troops in any way. And while I have tried to work up some gratitude for my military killing the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who were about to swim over here and kill my mom, I just can't, because it's not true. The truth is this the last half dozen wars (approximate, I didn't count) or more had nothing to do with protecting American freedoms, unless you count the freedom to commit global commerce.  Being a capitalist, myself, I appreciate that freedom, but it would make a very short poem, wouldn't it?

The other thing, Mr. Province, is that underneath the mistaken message of your poem is a wrongheaded emotion - resentment. I think it comes from right wing politics which hold that all use of military force by Republican presidents (and some Democratic presidents, so long as they're not currently alive) is good and right, which makes people who protest any such action bad and wrong. Not just bad. Immoral, decadent, treasonous. This taints public opinion against anyone who exercises their rights as somehow presumptively subversive. What your poem implies is that the military is the guardian of our nation's honor, which is not its purpose. Its purpose is to win wars the civilian leadership tells it to fight, or to explain why it can't be done.  Those countries whose militaries regard themselves as the protector of the nation's honor also tend to be the ones which have the fewest freedoms, and the most military coups.

So, I do thank the soldier for doing her duty. And I encourage the soldier to exercise his freedoms. But any soldier who thinks it is the military's role to stand apart and above civil society is a danger to those freedoms. One of the many ways that rightwingers have been reckless the past 30 years is to have encouraged anti-liberty resentment which, rather than any foreign enemy, poses the greatest danger to the Constitution.

Comments

[Jason]

Well done, it seems to me. I'm glad you wrote it. The "glory" of the military is something our country's founding documents kept well in check. We are wise to imitate that belief today.

[Jason]

I also like the R.E.M. reference.

Best. Band. Ever.

Period.

[mds]

The "glory" of the military is something our country's founding documents kept well in check.

Indeed, if it was the Soldier who gave us all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, why did the Founding Fathers abhor the notion of a standing army? Probably because they hated America.

[Jason]

Yes. Default answer: "Because you hate America, that's why."

[Alex]

Military service is honorable, but it need not be enhanced by promoting the idea that soldiers "give" us our rights and freedoms.