Generals For Office
I always wondered (especially this election season ) why less and less top military officials choose to run for office. Many choose to join the service at a relatively young age (18 - 21) and have 30 plus years of service to their country. With that much experience in foreign affairs and managing personnel I think they would be prime candidates. I wonder why America has leaned away from choosing service members.
I think this has to do with how the perception of the government and the military has changed over the years. We used to be a very trusting country. When our leaders told us something we believed them. When our military took part in something we knew it had to be just and true.
These perceptions changed over the years, starting with a growing distrust of the government by the late 1960's and being exacerbated during the 1970s by political scandals. Some of the biggest of which were Watergate and the entire thing with the FBI getting their files stolen and published and all the shady things they did coming out to the public.
So I don't think people hate the military or anything, but like I said I think there is a certain amount of distrust of the military complex and of course of the government overall.
Originally posted by Raisen
Are you a liberal or staunch conservative today?
What relevance does that have to do with anything? Nice trolling though. Keep on doing god's work.
Originally posted by Surtur
I think this has to do with how the perception of the government and the military has changed over the years. We used to be a very trusting country. When our leaders told us something we believed them. When our military took part in something we knew it had to be just and true.These perceptions changed over the years, starting with a growing distrust of the government by the late 1960's and being exacerbated during the 1970s by political scandals. Some of the biggest of which were Watergate and the entire thing with the FBI getting their files stolen and published and all the shady things they did coming out to the public.
So I don't think people hate the military or anything, but like I said I think there is a certain amount of distrust of the military complex and of course of the government overall.
I think the general public nether hates nor loves the military. I just think to most they are a means to an end. Kinda like nukes are a deterrent. It's good to have around but just keep it in the back outta sight and outta mind.
One of the main reasons a buddy discussed with me is the militaries staunch apolitical attitude. It's ingrained in their psyche. I've always considered Powell or Patreaus as good examples of generals I'd vote for.
Just because God loves you doesn't mean he approves of your actions.
And as for the Generals in Public Office thing. I would bet a lot of them don't take those positions anymore because they already may know what its like to stand in front of someone aiming a weapon at them and don't want to repeat the experiance.
Can someone explain to me why dodging the Vietnam draft (specifically that war, I don't know much about Korea) is considered a bad thing? It's interesting because it seems to be generally accepted that it was a really pointless war and that it ruined countless people's lives and kind of ****ed up a whole generation of Americans. Yet if you dodged the draft you're a 'coward' rather than a conscientious objector? Are there some elements of it that I'm missing?
Originally posted by Scribble
Can someone explain to me why dodging the Vietnam draft (specifically that war, I don't know much about Korea) is considered a bad thing? It's interesting because it seems to be generally accepted that it was a really pointless war and that it ruined countless people's lives and kind of ****ed up a whole generation of Americans. Yet if you dodged the draft you're a 'coward' rather than a conscientious objector? Are there some elements of it that I'm missing?
I think it has to do with the fact that some people didn't dodge the draft. Either they willingly joined to fight or they were forced to fight. I don't think it was exactly easy to get out via conscientious objection and I only think for stuff like religion it might of worked with. But it wasn't easy because a lot of people got out of having to serve by purposely injuring themselves to the point where they would no longer qualify.
So a lot of people died and I think that is where the feelings come from. I'm not saying it is right or wrong to feel that way. There is a misconception in America that most of the people against the Vietnam war were the college age kids. But actually it wasn't, the older generation had a much larger percentage of people against it. Why? Because it was their kids being sent over there to die.
Also to me it depends on when you dodged the draft. Since it's not like from day 1 everyone saw how hopeless this war was. For a long time people supported the war. I don't know if I can fault someone for trying to dodge the draft if they were drafted as the war was drawing to a close. Nixon began withdrawing troops in the early 70's, but they were also still sending soldiers out on missions. If you're going to be pulling out anyways why go looking for trouble? Defend yourself if you have to, but don't go looking for it.
So the government definitely did let the people down and they got a lot of people needlessly killed. At the same time though a lot of Americans made huge mistakes in that they took out their frustrations on Vietnam vets. They'd get spit at, yelled at, called baby killers, etc. Basically they couldn't wear their uniforms in public. Since most soldiers indeed weren't crazed baby killers that was probably pretty soul crushing to have to come back from hell only to deal with stuff like that. As a result of the war our government also allowed a massive amount of drugs to come into the country. All the while waging a "war on drugs". They even at times used body bags with dead soldiers in them to ship heroin back to America. Oh and a bunch of vets came back from the war addicted to heroin and at one time late into the war the drug use among soldiers was so bad that 1 out of every 4 soldiers that died would die of a heroin overdose.
Re: Generals For Office
Originally posted by Sin I AMBecause maybe after decades dealing with military-level bullshit they don't want to spend their golden years dealing with the ultimate-level bullshit.
I always wondered (especially this election season ) why less and less top military officials choose to run for office. Many choose to join the service at a relatively young age (18 - 21) and have 30 plus years of service to their country. With that much experience in foreign affairs and managing personnel I think they would be prime candidates. I wonder why America has leaned away from choosing service members.
Re: Re: Generals For Office
Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Because maybe after decades dealing with military-level bullshit they don't want to spend their golden years dealing with the ultimate-level bullshit.
True and honest posr. Generals of this time are burnt out. They just want to fish and relax