re: #281 Gus 802

True. Somehow it’s been confused, and the lines have been blurred and people think that people like that define all military men. Which reminds me of the false assumption that General Petraeus is even a Republican — being that there is much chatter about him being recruited as a presidential candidate.

The typical argument I’ve seen and heard is “we fought for your freedom so shut up.” That’s true in many respects with the former but this is still a democracy and not a militarist state.

What’s Petraeus’ affiliation, or does he have one?

My family have been Democrats a good long time, and we’ve shown up for wars we liked, and wars we didn’t. I don’t have some kind of awestruck reverence for the fighting patriotism of the red states—two of my college friends have lost brothers in Iraq, and they are both the sort to think Bill Clinton was a bit too far to the right. I defer personally to the courage and selflessness of military men and women, but I don’t necessarily think their political judgement is one whit better than mine, and I take into account the wide range of opinion I’ve heard from such folks.

And for anyone who says “I fought for your freedom, so shut up,” my only answer has to be “I value that sacrifice enough not to let this country you fought for become a military dictatorship, so NO, the debate, whatever the hell it’s about, continues.”