Politics

I read an article about Sarah Palin the other day, and it started me thinking about the relationship between the military and political leaders.  Usually I think of the military as an apolitical entity, like a tool that our government wields for good or evil depending on your worldview.  The Army didn’t send itself to Iraq and Afghanistan, our former president and senators ordered it there.  Of course the most senior leaders of all branches of the armed forces act as direct advisors to the president and have a certain amount of influence and political power, but really they aren’t making the decision.

This is what I think frees individual soldiers from being held morally or legally responsible for some of the things that happen in a war zone.  Granted at a certain level strategic decisions are being made “in house” without any direct input from politicians or non-Army personnel, but those people are still at the top of the food chain so much of the responsibility sits with them.  Of course when things go wildly off track a deeper investigation into responsibility is required.  An American soldier who rapes an Iraqi woman can’t reasonably say, “Well you sent me here, so this is your fault.”  (Although maybe if as a society we recognized that entering a war and sending our countrymen and women into a war zone might cause them to make some pretty uncharacteristic decisions given the stress levels they face, we would be less eager to make that step in the first place.  One of the only points from Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor that really stuck with me was that great pains are taken by our military to avoid the killing of innocent civilians in hostile enemy territory, even to the extent that it risks more American soldiers’ lives.  He writes that maybe before we send soldiers off to war, we ought to realize and accept that for them to accomplish their goals and defend themselves, innocent people will be killed.  If this is an unacceptable premise, then so is the war in the first place.)

Anyway, for the most part I trust that the leaders of our nation make informed decisions and genuinely want America to succeed and prosper.  Of course there are a disturbing number of examples to the contrary, but I believe that as a democracy the integrity and values of our political leaders should, to a certain degree, reflect the integrity and values of the people who elect them.  Especially under President Obama I feel this is true, and his victory in the last presidential election proves to me that the American people still value something other than personal wealth and selfishness. I have very few qualms about serving in the military with Barack Obama as Commander-in-Chief.

Even before the Obama Administration took over though, I hadn’t lost all faith in the previous administration.  President Bush, I believe, wasn’t a bad man and did take certain aspects of his job seriously.  However, he was, in my opinion, severely under-prepared for the job and received some of the worst counsel in recent history.  Many serious errors were made, and America’s prestige in the world was damaged as a result.  Call me naive, but for some reason, I still think Bush, the man, was good, and I could have served in the military under his command.  (It’s true that I’ve become much more informed politically in the past two years, so maybe I would have felt different during Bush’s presidency had I known more at the time.)

Now, I come to the article about Sarah Palin, and it claims that she is “the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination…”.  I just absolutely cannot under any circumstances believe that statement to be true.  How could it be!?  Almost every bit of informed investigation and reporting on the woman reveals her to be out of touch with reality and abysmally uninformed about even the most basic elements of global politics.  Personally I cringe at any mention of her name in the news because to me she represents the most self-serving, deluded portion of American politicians who themselves only really represent a tiny slice of our populace yet through the machinations of corporate sponsors and wealth depict themselves as heroes of the working class.

If Sarah Palin or any of her ilk were to become Commander-in-Chief I really don’t know how I could continue to serve in the military.  I don’t believe she possesses slightest clue how to lead, and scarier still, that she doesn’t care to learn how.  That’s what really gets me fired up about these people.  Not their mere ignorance, but the fact that they are blissful in their ignorance and in some cases even try to tout it as a virtue.  Isn’t that how she came up with the whole nonsensical “rogue” theme?  Some ingenious campaign manager somewhere took her utter ignorance of world affairs and re-branded it as something desirable, something to be proud of and admired for.

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Published:
February 18, 2010 / 6:58 pm
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