I did think it was necessary to point out that the belief in the superiority of the white race was not limited to the ancestors of the present day-Southerners, but also the antebellum Northerners (and as I pointed - Abraham Lincoln).
Yeah-correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the KKK formed in Ohio? I know that group came a bit later, but still...
As a general point, wars are mainly fought over land, resources, and the construct known as 'countries' or 'states', etc. No offense to anyone, but it strikes me as irrational to enlist in armies. Even in this recession-hit time, there are always other options and opportunities. In a globalised world, it is self-evident that a piece of land is no more than a construct.
I fully agree with you on this. But I think most people who enlist don't actually think about things like land or resources. They mainly just do so because they want to protect their country from attackers, be they real or imagined. Then they get into the conflict, and realize they were way in over their heads, that it's not at
all what they thought it would be.
Generally speaking, the people that are the strongest advocates for war have never actually fought in one - i.e., moral cowards.
That's certainly true. That's why I find it odd that McCain ran in 2008 on his war service to the point where he was almost
bragging about it, all the while pushing for more of our time in the Middle East. Generally, as I understand it. most war veterans, especially ones who've been through the kind of hell McCain went through, rarely, if ever, talk about their service, and when they do, it's never in bragging terms. I remember reading magazines like
Time and
Newsweek prior to our going into Iraq, and there were LOTS of letters from WW2 veterans who were heavily against the idea. They've been there. They know what it's
really like. And they don't want others to go through the same nightmare.
My dad also noted once that he found it rather funny that the Republicans were acting like they were the better choice in terms of how to handle national defense, because if you look back through our recent history, a lot of our wars were actually started by Democrats.
Angela