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Beginning
on Monday, December 8th, 1941, just hours after the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor that brought the US into the Second World War,
military recruiting offices were inundated by long lines of American
men eager to take up arms against the Japs. These regular GI Joes
were augmented by the enlistment of prominent actors, musicians
and the sons of many of the elite families of the American political
and business establishments. Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Ronald
Reagan, Glenn Miller, Teddy Roosevelt Jr. and a very young George
Herbert Walker Bush come to mind. (With the exception of Reagan,
all saw actual combat or served in theaters where their lives
were at risk.)
But
since the 9/11 attacks that killed approximately 3,000 Americans
within our own borders, we have witnessed not a single high-profile
enlistment from the ranks of our political, industrial, media,
or entertainment elites. Not one.
Why
this dramatic absence of personal investment in the "War Against
Terrorism" that has now been dramatically expanded by the President
to include the "Evil Axis" of North Korea, Iraq and Iran? Shouldn't
the self-described "conservatives" (neo-conservatives, actually)
screaming the loudest for an invasion of the world be volunteering
themselves and their Ivy League sons and daughters for this dramatically
open-ended crusade?
Although
America's elite began disengaging itself from the old republican
concept of military service beginning with the $300 draft exemptions
during the War Between the States, it wasn't until Vietnam that
their absence from their own wars became scandalously obvious.
While a number of "conservative" hawks did indeed serve in 'Nam
or sent their sons, National Guard assignments or university deferments
were more the rule for those families doing most of the ruling
in Washington or Wall Street.
Where
are the young Bushes and Clintons and Gephardts and Lotts when
their fathers call us to war? Where are the scions of the Dupont
and Rockefeller and Ford empires when we are asked to strike back
against so many distant enemies? How many degrees of separation
do you suppose exist between a Rumsfeld, a Wolfowitz, a Perle,
or a Krauthammer and service in combat?
The
purpose of these questions is not to raise a debate over whether
the justified response to the 9/11 attacks has been high-jacked
and expanded by a host of nefarious interests, both foreign and
domestic. Neither are these questions meant to disparage those
average Americans who have joined up in good faith. Rather, they
are simply presented to stir the citizens of this republic to
critically examine the conduct of the elites who make the decisions
to take others lives... and to spend them. What are their families
wagering in this Great Crusade... besides their portfolios?
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