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Poverty Increases, Death Toll Tops 1,000 - One Dad Says 'Tough
Luck'
By Dan
Gougherty
Recently
we had guests visiting when the conversation veered toward
the war in Iraq. As the father of two draft age sons and two
quickly approaching it, the draft and the war without end
have been regular topics of discussion in our home.
I support
the return of a draft that would among other things strictly
limit deferments to real medical reasons, i.e. no Rush Limbaugh
wart type deferments or Dick "I-had-other-priorities-Go-F*ck
yourself" Cheney marriage or students deferments. My
reasoning is if the children of all Americans have the potential
to serve and die in Iraq, or anyplace else in the world the
neo-cons plan on staging a preemptive strike, support for
Bush's war would quickly dissipate.
Our guest,
who I will call Mark has two draft aged sons, said that he
did not think the draft will return or for that matter is
necessary. Mark went on to say that he thought there were
sufficient numbers of underprivileged people who would continue
to join the service and that would sustain our armed forces.
While
Mark's view is very cynical, it is sadly probably true in
the near term. It is of no coincidence the recently released
poverty report that showed for a third straight year poverty
has increased and it had the greatest impact on children.
What better way of recruiting than having a huge class of
underprivileged children whose best way out of poverty is
to join the armed services.
While
I agreed with Mike's argument that there will sadly be people
who will join the armed forces if only to escape poverty,
I questioned the fairness. Is it fair that the children of
the least privileged are doing the fighting and dying for
more privileged Americans driving around in $50,000 gas-guzzling
SUV's?
Much
to my shock, Mark said that he "didn't care" if
those doing the fighting are for the most part are from the
least fortunate segments of society. "They knew what
they were getting in to so I don't have any sympathy for them,"
Mark said. "They knew the dangers." Furthermore,
Mark said he would not encourage his sons to join the service
as they had no need or obligation to do so.
Sensing
my wife's uneasiness with the direction of our conversation,
I quickly changed the subject but committed Mark's words and
attitude to memory. While Mark is by all appearances a law-abiding-tax-paying
citizen, he provides a good example of how people in our society
are uncaring about things such as the death of American service
personnel who primarily come from the lower socio-economic
echelons of society and the increase in poverty.
Mark,
quite simple has bought into the "Me first" society
that conservatives have cleverly constructed over the last
forty years. From his point, as long as his children are not
the ones doing the fighting, the war doesn't affect his life.
As far as Mark can see the only "sacrifice" he has
made is slightly higher gas prices for his SUV and that will
probably come down in September or October anyhow thanks to
the Bush family friends in Saudi Arabia.
Not only
is Mark free of having to worry about the possibility of sacrificing
his children in a war that Bush said "I don't think you
can win," he is paying lower income taxes to boot. Only
in America!
As for
the people in poverty, I am quite confident that if our conversation
were to continue, Mark would probably blame all those lazy
"welfare queens" for their plight and their kids
get what they deserve. This sadly, is how many people view
not only poverty, but that segment of society that does the
bidding for the Bush and the neo-cons.
If the
draft returned, you could bet your bottom dollar that Mark's
tune would quickly change.
Visit
Dan Gougherty blog at
www.ltobs.blogspot.com
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