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Posted on 04/12/2004 12:38:01 AM PDT by Punditstar
Why Dems Wanted Military Ballots Not to Count in 2000
From The State.
Excerpt:
Another benefit of an all-volunteer military is that it saves taxpayers money; there's less turnover as troops stay in for longer periods. During the Vietnam War, the average tour of duty was less than two years, according to a Defense Department study. Today, the average tour is about seven years.
But critics fret the United States is developing an all-volunteer warrior class recruited from the nation's more politically conservative areas.
Between 1976 and 1996, for instance, the percentage of military officers who said they were either nonpartisan or independent dropped to 20 percent from 50 percent, according to a study by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies in North Carolina.
In 1996, the majority of those officers who listed a political preference said they were Republicans, the study found.
Clemson's Moise would prefer to see more diverse political thought in the military. But, he added, he doubts that reinstating the draft would solve anything.
"I wouldn't force a bunch of left-wingers into the military to dilute others point-of-views," he said.
** It is interesting that Presidents Carter and Clinton helped the military's rank and file become more devoutly Republican.
Why Country Singers Support the Troops
Folks in Kerry's electoral heartland are less likely to join the military:
A Defense Department study found Southerners made up 42 percent of the armed forces in 2000, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That's up from 34 percent in 1985. Meanwhile, the percentage of recruits from the Northeast dropped to 14 percent in 2000 compared to a post-draft high of 22 percent in 1977.
Don't Mess with West Texas
A really great article on the sacrifices in Iraq being made by folks from small town America.
Excerpt:
Military recruiters say they do best in places where the local culture supports the military. It helps if a potential recruit knows someone in the military, or comes from a place where service is honored.
Carroll Kohl was the pastor of the Lutheran church in Big Spring for 28 years before he retired and became chaplain at the large Big Spring Veterans Administration Medical Center. "In other places, being in the military is kind of a disgrace," he explained. "Out here, you're a first-class citizen. West Texas has the most patriotism I've ever seen anywhere."
Patriotism, service, the church, America -- they are all wound together here. Big Spring was once reputed to have the most Protestant churches per person of any town in the United States, according to the Handbook of Texas. The Sweetwater Reporter in late September carried a front-page item about "Cowboys Ridin' for Christ," a clinic promising to "train an unridden horse to ride based on scripture."
Signs welcoming home soldiers who have served in Iraq hang all over the towns along I-20. On a map at the Vietnam War memorial on a hill above Big Spring, veterans pointing out where they served have rubbed shiny spots in the granite. When Karen Henry goes to Wal-Mart in Big Spring, "people see this (Army) pin on me and I get these hugs."
"West Texas is different," Kohl explained. Indeed, it is. And although it's hard to tell whether America is moving away from West Texas or West Texas is moving away from America, it's easy to sense here that there's a split in the country between those who serve and those who don't.
** Texas makes up one-third of the Left's Axis of Evil-- Cheney's Wyoming and Lott's Mississippi are probably the other two.
I suspect I realized I was a conservative when the Senators from New York freaked me out more than the Senators from Idaho.
I don't mean to malign the Blue states (Lord knows many of their sons and daughters are serving in Iraq) but it will be the Red states that carry us to victory in the War on Terror.
Never Forget
It appears the young men from the Red (Bush) Counties of America are bearing a disproportionately heavy load in Iraq. We must remember these young men and the sacrifices they are making for us.
Democrats like Charles Rangel and Ike Skelton (usually a decent fellow) are using the fallen Red County boys to make political points. Rangel and Skelton want to reinstitute the draft (or merely threaten to) to create political trouble for Bush.
The progeny of the neocon intellectuals aren't on the ground dying in Iraq. They didn't fight in Somalia or Kosovo either, but bringing back the draft to bring equity to the battlefield is a non-starter. There is simply no appetite for it and in the War on Terror we can't afford the divison it would cause.
As it stands, the people disproportionately demoralizing the coutry and putting the Red County boys and the Blue city boys serving in Iraq at greater peril are the very people least likely to serve or know anyone who does.
The anti anti-terrorists are already doing enough in counter-patritoism without their sons being subjected to the draft.
The Country can't go through the 1960s again--the permanent campaign to do just that (waged by the Leftist establishment and John Kerry) must fail.
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