chickenhawks exposed...crushed...
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chickenhawks exposed...crushed...
a defining attribute of a government is that it has a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of violence...
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Exactly. Clinton never served. Why should it matter?Dave wrote:Ignoring all the issues of draft dodging and string pulling, why does military service have to be a prerequisite for holding legitimate high office?
"We want peace! Say no to war! but you can't be our president without fighting in a war!"
Re: chickenhawks exposed...crushed...
told :icon14:In another time and place, some of today's not-so-brave might have elbowed little old ladies and children out of the way to secure a berth on the last lifeboat on the Titanic, or maybe they''d have ratted out resistance fighters to the Gestapo in WW2 France.
I'm not sure what you mean by "sweet" (cool, romantic, easy, etc), but that's got nothing to do with it either. It's kind of a broad assumption to make that those who do not experience war find it sweet. Making war isn't the only business of a politician.Ryoki wrote:War is sweet to those that did not experience it.Dave wrote:Ignoring all the issues of draft dodging and string pulling, why does military service have to be a prerequisite for holding legitimate high office?
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If someone is going to send people off to fight and die in a war, I would feel much knowing that they had actually been there themselves and truly understand all the reprecussions of sending people to their deaths.Dave wrote:Ignoring all the issues of draft dodging and string pulling, why does military service have to be a prerequisite for holding legitimate high office?
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So Bush did some military service... see where that got us. Like my originial post said:
"Why does military service have to be a prerequisite for holding legitimate high office?"
That qualification seems to be irrelevant...
Here's an idea. If the military industrial complex is such a money drain on the US economy, lets keep putting people in office with ties to the military.
"Why does military service have to be a prerequisite for holding legitimate high office?"
That qualification seems to be irrelevant...
Here's an idea. If the military industrial complex is such a money drain on the US economy, lets keep putting people in office with ties to the military.
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The problem is that it worked... Too well. Now America has helped foster so much global comeptition that we're struggling to keep up. So now we pump more money into the military than we do into things like education becuase the dollar no longer commands world wide respect on its own. Now we supplement dollar diplomacy with military strength. That's not the way to run an empire.
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I agree for most offices, but I really do think that there is something to be said for the commander in chief having some real military experience...I don't think that a lack of military experience would necessarily make you an ineffective leader though, so I don't think it should be a prerequisite...Dave wrote:Ignoring all the issues of draft dodging and string pulling, why does military service have to be a prerequisite for holding legitimate high office?
Perhaps part of the issue people have is that it often seems like the military is the only option many people have for obtaining an education, and the consequence of that decision now is that they are put into a very unpopular war, while the sons and daughters of most of the people who made the decision to send them there are safely tucked away at universities. (that isn't necessarily my opinion, just an observation...I'm avoiding political arguments for awhile...)
Are there any statistics about how many of the senate and congress's kids are actively serving in Iraq?