Department: Military Affairs
Guest Lecturer: FormerLiberal
Hours: 3
Audience: All
I thought the following comment to an article at Rantburg by FormerLiberal was so good, I asked if we could post it here at the Crusader War College
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I have to wonder how many of us actually understand just how wonderful a thing it is that in a world where all nations can produce men willing to pick up a gun and fight and die, it is only today’s democracies that have produced men willing to die for another nation’s liberation instead of its subjugation.
Our American soldier says, “I will die for anyone in the world who wants to enjoy the same freedoms I have, and I will not expect the people I have died for to embrace my beliefs, even though I hold them to be self-evident.”
Our American protestor says, “I will not die for you, but I will expect you to embrace my idealistic world-view even as I’m actively working to deny you the freedoms and comforts I take for granted. ”
The chasm between them is unbridgeable for it is the same chasm that separates a true democracy from a true tyranny, and I finally realize how much more brave is the rifle-bearing soldier who risks potential death in Baghdad than the protestor who disrupts traffic in San Francisco knowing that while a thump on the noggin and pepper spray is a sure thing, it is the worst he will have to endure for his “bravery.”"
That being said, I have come to believe - where once I did not - that in fact suicide bombers are less brave than the soldiers who, though willing to die if need be, prefer life to death, prefer meeting the consequences of our actions to running away from them. And maybe, just maybe, it is only today's democracies who can produce men who believe that while any arrogant bastard can strap on a bomb and leave the mopping up to his comrades, it takes a very real humility to stick around and fix the things he was obliged to break.
We'll fix what we break. Would any other nation?
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Pretty much says it all, in my mind.
Did I forget to mention that Rantburg is the official School Paper of the Crusader War College? Head on over and add your two bits.