After the first of next year the campaign for the White House will begin in earnest it would seem. Politico,taking a break from its job as mouthpiece for the GOP, points out that all the likely candidates will have one thing in common:
Of the 16 top GOP presidential prospects for 2012, only Rep. Ron Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have ever served in the Armed Forces. Since President Barack Obama also never served in the military, the odds are that in two years, Americans are likely to cast their votes in the first presidential race in nearly 70 years where neither major party nominee has ever worn the nation’s uniform.
That’s OK you tell yourself-“the veterans from the war in Iraq will soon fill that gap.”
Don’t be so sure:
While there are signs that veterans of recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have started entering public life in greater numbers, it’s unlikely to significantly move the dial because a hallmark of these wars are repeated tours from the same small group of people. Rep.-elect Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), for example, served a combined five tours with the Air Force, three in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.
Why did so many of these folks not serve? Because they could. The issue is not so much that they did not serve, rather it will be like that of Dick Cheney and others: they will be more than willing to employ military force at the drop of a hat-without understanding the sacrifices involved.
And that’s kind of the real point, isn’t it?
“You’ve asked a very small part of America to take most of the risks for America,” said Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has advised the Obama administration on its policy in Afghanistan. “I don’t think the 2012 Republican slate is as much an issue as the level of sacrifice that’s being asked a very small proportion of America to make.”
Bring up the idea of national service for all able bodied men-and watch the whining begin. A lot of which, will come from inside the services themselves which always amazes me.
Think about that-and the ensuing civil-military gap. Don’t see any Tea Party anger about that-now do you? Of course not, because most of them never served. Most “progressives” didn’t either. It is a bipartisan disease.
If I were king of the US-that would be one of the first things I would attack.
UPDATE: Jose Ferrer explains it,