The same could be said for a voter who votes for a man without the best interest of the country as his top priority.
I guess. But I don't think that anyone runs for president of the US without some notion of what 'the best interest of the' nation is. That they do not agree with me, does not mean they are wrong. That they might agree with me does not mean they are right.
Decent people, of intellectual ability, given to thought, can, and do, come to very different conclusions from time to time. Indeed, it is the very basis of our government that such things can and do happen. That's why we ask everyone who they think is right. We call it democracy, but then again, so did the Greeks.
Soldiers didn't die so that we could vote. Soldiers died to stop evil from engulfing this planet.
Hitler, sure. Other wars, not so much. Smedley Butler once quiped that "the flag follows the dollar" meaning, we send our army where our business interests run. 'Twas ever thus. Actually, old Smedley is worth quoting at some length, because he is not some left wingnut, he was a Major General of the USMC, and the only person to win the MoH, TWICE. Smedley is the the most decorated Marine in US history. He might know something about military power, about OUR military power. Though this quote is going to do more to prove Lady A's point, than yours.
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
Not a minor point.
However......
And don't you dare begin a rant about disrespecting American soldiers. It's the liberal types like you who have turned the public opinion from them being heroes to baby killers. It's the liberal, democratic types like you who've made our country so ashamed of our own military that the military has to recruit Mexicans and Canadians and have our own, "foreign legion," because our own citizens have lost all pride in what American stands for.
Well, I've never said any such thing. And though I'm sure that there are a lot of Mexican nationals in the Services, I'm equally sure there are not a whole lot of Canadians. The traditional method of becoming a 'citizen' is to serve in the military. In Rome, you could not vote if you had not been in the Legion. Just that simple. Rich and poor alike. (Come back with your shield, or on it) So, rather than come over as some 'illegal' alien, why not join up for four years. Or are you just bitter because we think some of those guys make better troops than they though you would make? And though most of the victims of the Bush War here in Sonoma County are of Hispanic origin, they are natives also. Don't let the Hispanic name fool you, they have been in this nation as long as most people have.
I'm sure I've said that the US armed forces are overexteded, undersupplied, used wrongly, not supported correctly (both in the field, and when they get back home), but I've never called them baby killers. Nor has anyone I've ever known. Hell, even the most left wing hippies I know buy drinks for people in uniform when they are in the same bar. It's a SF tradition pretty much.
Matter of fact, I work sometimes at a pretty famous nightclub here in SF. And as a very unofficial policy we don't card people in uniform. And pretty much the first few beers are on us. Old enough to serve the nation, old enough for us. And hell, we're hippies.
So don't give me some sort of neo-conservative nonsense about how everyone to the left of the extreme right wing somehow hate the troops. Most of the people I know love them too much to ask them to do what is currently being asked of them. That's just claptrap.
Matter of fact, most of the super hippies, the real peaceniks I know have a box at home with lots of medals in them. They hate war, because they have been there. Kind of like old Smedley.
to save people that you couldn't even donate $5 a month to to make sure those little kids have got clothes on their back and food in their bellies
Americans give more money to humanitarian concerns than any other nation.
The America is following the same exact path as the Roman Empire is.
Actually, its not 'is' its 'was' as the Roman Empire is pretty much past tense. That whole college level grammar deal. And no, we're not. That statement not only tells me you know less than nothing about Roman history, but even less about our own.
The, "Bread and Circus," of their time has been renamed to Medicaid and Medicare in our time
Nah, that's college and NFL football, chips and beer.
The entire mentality of our people towards the government has become, "what can it do for me?" Instead of, "how can I make my nation greater?"
I don't even begin to think that is true. And I have heard neither Obama or McCain even come close to suggesting such a thing.
Do American soldiers really die just so that teenagers can sit at home and look at music popstars doing pole dances half naked and getting musical awards for it?
No, though they might well have died so that people don't have to watch it. Which is your choice. Pop entertainment is not a state activity. You can watch, or not. Your choice. And that is what they died for. Choice.
So that they can watch people take off their pants and go at it after a few minutes of knowing each other?
No again. Perhaps if they were one of those people. But foxholes create strange dreams.
Don't even pretend you give a ->-bleeped-<- about the lives of our Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen. If you did then you would greet them at the airport with a band and parade like happened at the return of troops from every war from WW2 and before. No, all you care about it being able to vote for two unfit candidates, each that is fully capable and most likely to continue to lead our nation into ruin.
I did not teach ROTC for over a decade out of some sort of non-interest. Nor would the ROTC program have ever let that happen. My father was a vet, and my brother did 20 years S&R for the Navy, including tours in the Persian Gulf, so I'm not immune to this. I've worked for the DoD, and the DoE (weapons programs) so I - liberal type I am - have done far more military service than you have. Not a minor point.
Which means, when I talk about this, I have some real world experience with it, and its not just some comic book fantasy. When I go to D.C. I go to that wall and cry because my best friend from high school is on it. And for what?
So, yes I vote. I even work the polls. I do work for people and interests I believe in. Do I always win. Hell no. Does it discourage me. Never.
Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize as Mother Jones once said.
