War time sacrifice
We are currently in the midst of two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) and, frighteningly, moving in the direction of a third (Iran). These are, of course, in addition to the conceptual and eternal war against the English language (in particular, the word “terror”). This last war is generally referred to as “the war on terror” but I like to break it apart to remind everyone of the absurdity of the rhetoric. But I digress.
The politicians who have made a career of war (these are primarily, but not exclusively, members of the Republican Party) are very fond of reminding the American citizenry of the fact that we are “at war”. Never mind the inconvenient fact that war was never actually declared by the U.S. Congress (declaring war is so passe). Although it has changed somewhat since the 2006 elections, one need not search very hard to find some public policy (or invasion of personal liberties) justified by our “at war” status. This is very powerful rhetoric, and it is often emphasized by suggesting correlations to the last Great War in which the U.S. and allies bravely defended Freedom from the attack ofFascism.
What I find amazing and grossly disturbing is the disconnect between these constant “we are at war” rhetoric and the total lack of “therefore we need to sacrifice”. Quite the opposite, the only people asked to sacrifice during this time of “war” are the [under equipped and over extended] soldiers and the Iraqi &Afghanistan people whose cities, lives, and countries have been more or less destroyed. The rest of us at home are encouraged to continue our happy-go-lucky, cheap-gas-easy-motoring,ignorant-of-the-world-outside-our-borders lifestyle.
Look back to WWII. Food was rationed. Women were asked to join the workforce. People stopped buying new autos as the industrial capacity was recommitted to producing tanks, planes, and ships. Everyone knew we were “at war” because everyone’s life was impacted in some way. Today, if it weren’t for sensational (but academically vacant) news reports, the average U.S. citizen could easily forget that we are busy killing men & women half a world away (while our own men & women suffer the same fate). Instead of financing the war with war bonds, we finance it with ourchildrens’ debt. This disgusts me.
If this “war on terror” is truly vital to the continuation of a free civilization, than it is surely worthy of some sacrifice by the American citizenry. If such sacrifice would be impossible to justify politically (as I believe it would) than I dare say we may be fighting a “war” based on false pretense.
Filed under politics : Comments (0) : Feb 21st, 2007 by tadfad
