BCT Editorial – 3/22/06

This page was last updated on March 26, 2006.

Out of sight; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 22, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“One problem with the United States having an all-volunteer military is that it anesthetizes the American people to war.”

[RWC] Translation: “An all-volunteer military makes it difficult for us to drum up mass anti-war demonstrations we can use to bash President Bush.”

You see, liberals dislike the military when it’s used to defend our country and freedom. They think the primary role of the military is disaster relief, if the military has to exist at all. Liberals worked to eliminate the draft in the 1970s because they figured this would keep us from defending ourselves. You see, liberals figured no one would enlist if they believed they’d be in harm’s way. With no recruits you have no war.

As usual, liberals were wrong because they believed everyone viewed our country as they did.

That’s why a lot of liberals were lobbying for reinstatement of the draft before the 2004 elections. They wanted the threat of a draft to stir up widespread demonstrations as during the Vietnam War.

“The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the percentage of Americans in the military is 0.5 percent of the population. The only other wars that had lower numbers were the Mexican and Spanish-American wars, which had participation rates of 0.4 percent. (The Civil War and World War II had rates of 11.1 percent and 12.2 percent respectively.)

“The low participation rate makes it far too easy for many Americans to ignore the sacrifices that are being made by the men and women in the military and their families. It’s very much a case of out of sight, out of mind.

“Don’t think that doesn’t make a difference. It does. It’s easy to support the troops without giving it a second thought when somebody else’s kids are getting killed, maimed and wounded.”

[RWC] The last sentence makes no logical sense, unless you realize it inadvertently reveals how liberals really feel about the troops.

You see, the sentence makes sense if you substitute “support the war” for “support the troops.” However, liberals equate supporting the troops with supporting the war. That’s why we can’t believe liberals when they claim to support the troops but not their mission. Liberals only claim to support the troops in the belief it makes them sound patriotic.