William A. Alexander – 7/6/05

This page was last updated on July 7, 2005.

Bush’s class war in Iraq; William A. Alexander; Beaver County Times; July 6, 2005.

Mr. Alexander appears to be at least temporarily bored with writing letters bashing Socialist Security and other tax reform.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“Bush’s all-volunteer Army is not meeting enlistment quotas. Not enough poor and middle class students and young workers are signing up to be part of Bush’s Iraq War.”

[RWC] As a group, those in the military are better educated than the U.S. population as a whole.¹ 86.7% of active duty officers have a bachelor’s or advanced degree vs. 25.6% in the general population. At least 95.9% of enlisted members have at least a high school diploma vs. 84.1% in the general population. Since lack of education tends to be a reasonable poverty indicator, the education demographics would tend to refute Mr. Alexander’s claim. There’s no doubt some persons enlist for economic reasons, but I believe we demean the service of most airmen, marines, soldiers, et cetera if we believe their primary reason for serving is economic.

“Last week, Bush made a plea for young people to join the armed services. The White House and Defense Department chicken hawks - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowich [sic], Rove, Delay, etc. - need more troops In Iraq.”

[RWC] Wow, it took Mr. Alexander an entire four sentences to get into name-calling.

“The obvious solution is for Bush’s base - the haves and have-mores and others who greatly benefited from Bush’s policies and tax cuts - to step up to the plate.”

[RWC] Based on the 2004 election, over 50% of the population is “Bush’s base.” Is Mr. Alexander telling us over 50% of the population is “the haves and have-mores?” Personally, I believe it’s more accurate to refer to “haves and have-mores” as “do’s and do-mores.” Mr. Alexander and his kind conveniently ignore that everyone received tax rate cuts and the “evil rich” still pay a disproportionately large share of taxes. For tax year 2002, the top 25% of earners paid 66% of the total federal income tax collected. In other words, these evil rich guys paid over two and a half times their fair share. The bottom 50% paid only 3.5%! In other words, this group paid only 7% (1/14^th) of its fair share.

“I am sure all the well-to-do who voted for Bush will be encouraging their sons and daughters to do their duty as enlisted soldiers and sign up with the Army and Marines and then, after basic training, be sent to Iraq to finish this job that Bush says is going so well.

“Let these GOP voters’ children and grandchildren put off their education and family for a few years.

“These people see no problem in having the rest of our children and grandchildren get sent to Iraq to be wounded or die. When, even if they make it through their tour in one piece, they can be sent back into Iraq again and again or even have their service end date extended. These tour extensions help Bush continue stating that the armed forces are large enough to carry out his poorly planned and executed war.”

[RWC] What an angry man Mr. Alexander must be. I can’t imagine anyone seeing “no problem in having the rest of our children and grandchildren get sent to Iraq to be wounded or die,” yet Mr. Alexander has no problem making this ridiculous accusation against over 50% of the voting population.

“I expect to see a flood of bumper stickers on new luxury SUVs and luxury cars saying, ‘I am proud of my son/daughter in the armed services’ instead of only on older economy cars and pickup [sic].”

[RWC] Oh man, what BS! Does Mr. Alexander want us to believe Republicans predominantly drive “new luxury SUVs and luxury cars” and Democrats predominantly drive “economy cars and pickup [sic]?”

“Come on you chicken hawk, neo-con fat cats. Do your duty and send your kids/grandkids to Iraq.”

[RWC] I hope to meet Mr. Alexander some day. I’d like to know if his letters accurately depict him.

1. 2002 Demographics - Active Duty Members; Military Family Resource Center; September 2002.