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More Perspective from a Mercenary Hardware Fastener
By Slab
It's been a busy couple of weeks here at the Basic Airborne Course. After standing outside for an average of 10-12 hours a day, I find it pretty tough to summon enough interest to keep track of the latest happenings in the blogosphere. However, this weekend I was able to find a few spare minutes to see if there had been any response to "A Mercenary Perspective". After discovering from John that O'Meara responded to lil' old me, I must confess I was intrigued to see how Kev would debate the subject.
Imagine my disappointment to find a petulant temper tantrum instead:
UPDATE: Talking to these people is like talking to my dog... they look and probably turn their head a little but cannot understand anything. Here one of the wingnuts tries to prove I was wrong by saying the soldiers work for the "populace" by showing how brilliant he is. He says, "No, I do not work for you, I work for the elected officials". Well, duh, no shit. But the key word in this statement is "elected". Who the F do you think elects them? The Populace.. therefore, you work for the populace.Geez.. is this guy really trusted with guns?
I guess O'Meara will be a bit dismayed to find out that not only am I entrusted with a rifle, but I also have the authority to clear aircraft to drop high explosive ordnance into crowded urban environments. Not bad for a wingnut, eh?
Apparently, due to the demands of our current operational tempo, I somehow missed the point where a "nut with flared sides for turning with the thumb and forefinger" (unless they meant the tree) became a pejorative, but I digress.
O'Meara and company actually serve to highlight a disturbing habit that I have seen on both sides of the political spectrum. Rather than attempt some sort of discourse, O'Meara simply tries to marginalize my view by labeling me a "wingnut" and comparing me to a dog. Similarly, Steve tries to dismiss my rebuttal by labeling me a "little fly". With such terms are the opinions and experiences of a man who has led Marines on four separate deployments to the CENTCOM AOR casually dismissed by those who disagree. While there are guilty parties on the right as well as the left, it does not excuse the intellectual laziness.
I admit that the tone of "A Mercenary Perspective" was a tad condescending, but I never tried to apply over-simplified pejoratives to Kev or his pals. Since I have an adequate grasp of constitutional roles and responsibilities, why reduce my argument to such a childish level?
Let's get back to Kev's original point here: "The military's place is to do the bidding of the United States citizenry .. period!"
Kevin O'Meara can scream instructions to me until he is blue in the face (he's more than welcome to do so, since I am stuck at Ft Benning and could use the amusement), but I am not required to do his bidding. As a citizen of the United States, he has entrusted the duly elected President of the United States with that authority. Whether that President is Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton, I am required to follow his/her orders, regardless of my feelings for the actual person. See how that works? It is an important distinction to make. It is what separates a representative government from "mobocracy".
Thus endeth the lesson.
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Comments
posted my thoughts on the matter. It's pretty amazing the condesending tone that is set in those comments. Lets see if the responses are civl. I'm not holding my breath.
Imagine my disappointment to find a petulant temper tantrum instead:
You are trying to argue with people who believe that the United States is a pure Democracy, rather than a representative Republic.
The military may work for the public, indirectly, but the direct chain of command from soldier to President does not stop with the average citizen, it stops with the President.
The citizen may voice their objections but their recourse for change is through the voting booth, not through day-to-day public opinion as presented in the media.
Yes.. I know.. I'm speaking to the choir. But there's no point trying to logically debate this with people who stupidly refuse to accept the reality of our Republic form of government.
Charlie:
Shoot me an email when you get a chance.
jpp 89
It's kinda sad when someone like Mr. O'Meara can't understand that the Greeks and the Romans TRIED a mobocracy (direct representative democracy), and ultimately ended up forming an ad hoc executive seat of power to handle military and foriegn policy.
If Mr. O'Meara wants a real say in policy, then he should make his vote- for the executive- count. And not compare people to animals, or belittle them just to try to take them down a peg with ad hominen attacks.
If Mr. O'Meara also wants to see how civil-military relations work when military officers listen to people outside of the chain of command, he should the biographies of MacArthur, Douglas, and Clark, Wesley. And see how well THAT turned out, for both.
Learned my lesson the hard way. No civil discourse on that blog. Should of known by the condesending tone that was set in the comments section.
LtCol P, I'm about to fire myself out of an airplane in the morning, and for some reason I can't access Hotmail from the room, so it might be a few days.
Dan, appreciate the support over there. Not really worth your time though, google "sock puppet" for details.
As an Airman, I take great exception to "wingnut" comment from Mr. O'Meara. Any one who understands and knows even a little about the U.S. military would (should) clearly know that "wingnut" is a derogatory/term of endearment used to describe people in the U.S. Air Force (along with zoomie, and others). And all anyone with half a clue or with a little link following (fact checking) can find out that Lightning is clearly a Marine and not Airman. So the proper term should have been jarhead, leather neck, jarine, etc.
All this being said however since Lightning does have authorization to clear in aircraft, I guess we can make an exception and dub him an honorary wingnut. ;)
Semper Fi Marine and THANKS!!
No kidding... Are you in jump week now? I just graduated with D Co last Friday.
Keep your feet and knees together.
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he was sock puppeting over on the aforementioned thread at his place, so I said to hell with it.
No need to start sparring with Kev's alter-egos, I just happen to think he's got it wrong.
These blog feuds are kinda fun though, no?