Zell
For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom he abuses to burn that flag.
–Zell Miller
Dear Zell (who roughly and unaknowledgedly quoted what former Tennessee senator and actor Fred Thomson (R) said shortly after 9/11),
Without a doubt, soldiers do perform a great service to our nation; as their foreign counterparts undoubtedly also do for their respective nations. The role of the soldier cannot be ignored.
These are sad times when presidential candidates –both former soldiers– are attacked on their actions while in active duty rather than examined for their merits as statesmen.
While Mr Bush had the misfortune of not being called in-country, Mr Kerry has been rediculed for receiving purple hearts for three injuries, none of which were life threatening. The accusations of Bush going AWOL have not turned out any conclusive evidence, and the accusations against Kerry’s actions while in service have been thoroughly debunked.
Yet at the convention in which you spoke last night, many Republicans brazenly sported band-aids with little purple hearts on them. A cute little joke which I believe many veterans do not find funny.
Anyway, back to the service of the soldier. He or she has a unique role in his or her career. To kill or be killed, under authority of their nation. Yes, he or she has indeed risked and even sacrificed his or her life in service of country, this does not always equate to defence of homeland.
Conservatives are always taking a piss out of liberals for clinging to what they call “P.C.”, so let us throw off that rag. The soldiers in Iraq are not fighting for my “freedom”. America’s freedom was not fought for in Iraq I either. Nor in Somalia, nor in Bosnia, nor in Viet Nam.
I am a student of history, and I understand that those above four conflicts might have potentially benefitted someone (indeed with success in Iraq I and Bosnia), but let’s stay factual; the liberation of the Iraqi people-admittedly a noble cause–always was, and still is, the very last crutch to justify invasion.
Which brings me back to my point: the defence of our freedoms. Yes, men and women have died for what we hold dear. Our revolutionary war, 1812, in WWI and WWII… Yet you don’t have to be a US soldier to be part of that cause. Look at the French resistance. Don’t forget German Generals Stauffenberg and the wily Desert Fox. But even moreso, how can you have the audacity to forget the many thousands of American civilians who risked life and limb on our own streets to ensure liberty for our nation at odds with our selfsame nation?
What of Crispus Attucs, a black, our nation’s first martyr? What of MLK, and the many civil rights activists who were murdered in the sixties? What of the many thinkers who found themselves blacklisted in the Red Scares? You used the word “instigator” in your speech. That was the same confounded word used for unionists in our great depression, where many a man woman and child died from the strongarmery of capitalist-paid thugs. Ever heard of Harriet Tubman?
Yessir, there are plenty of ways to fight for freedom without becoming a soldier. You might even get killed. Then again, you might just as well get killed for walking in the wrong neighborhood.
So lay off. It is also true that most Americans obey the law. They do so not because they have to (although they do) but rather because they want to. Just like most other countries.
Ultimately, I believe that we can make this world a better place not by force but by better policy.