First we have Democrat Charlie Rangel tell a CNN audience that, well, I’m not sure what he is trying to say here (because of his rambling on and on and on) except maybe that because the military runs ads on TV this proves that people are not joining to serve their country, rather they are joining for the thrill. (h/t Hot Air)
Then he tells a Fox News audience that the only people who would join the military is those with no chance at a “decent career”.
And these people are who the Democrats choose to be in power? Wow!
It appears that Kerry and his fellow elitists, such as Rangel, can’t fathom why anyone would volunteer to join a military to fight what they think is a “illegitimate” war so they make excuses. Its all because of the ads, or the money, or because they cant find any other job. Don’t you know the military is mostly comprised of the poor?
Of course nothing could be further from the truth:
it is commonly claimed that the military relies on recruits from poorer neighborhoods because the wealthy will not risk death in war. This claim has been advanced without any rigorous evidence. Our review of Pen tagon enlistee data shows that the only group that is lowering its participation in the military is the poor. The percentage of recruits from the poorest American neighborhoods (with one-fifth of the U.S. population) declined from 18 percent in 1999 to 14.6 percent in 2003, 14.1 percent in 2004, and 13.7 percent in 2005.
~~~In summary, the additional years of recruit data (2004-2005) sup port the previous finding that U.S. military recruits are more similar than dissimilar to the American youth population. The slight differences are that wartime U.S. mil itary enlistees are better educated, wealthier, and more rural on aver age than their civilian peers.
Recruits have a higher percent age of high school graduates and representation from Southern and rural areas. No evidence indicates exploitation of racial minorities (either by race or by race-weighted ZIP code areas). Finally, the distri bution of household income of recruits is noticeably higher than that of the entire youth population.
Rangel and his type can’t figure out why the military continues to meet its recruitment goals and surpasses its enlistment goals. “How can that be!” they yell. And now they figured it out. It’s because the military dupes all the stupid folk into joining…..
Sigh….
Bryan from Hot Air put it much better then I can:
Like most secularists of the left, Rangel only understands material motivations to personal action–money, prestige, position, that sort of thing. It’s completely alien to him that young Americans could actually volunteer to join the military in the middle of what is to him an obviously “illegitimate” war. He just doesn’t understand it, and never will. Hence, his incoherence on the subject. For him, re-instating the draft would reset the world to the way he understands it, with the poor again actually shouldering more of the burden of national defense, and giving him his precious class warfare angle of attack against the war. And against America itself, which is usually the end game of any liberal political gambit.
Sadly this is the mindset of most of the left. Why, they ask, would anyone volunteer to defend this corrupt country? Think about it! This is their mindset!
I served, and would have layed my life down for this country if called upon. I serve to this day protecting the community in which I patrol as Police Officer. Is it for the pay? Come on…..
No, it’s because I feel a duty to do my part for this great country. Something very foreign to these lefty elitists, but still something that is very much prevalent in those who keep signing up and re-enlisting.
What a sad life these leftist must lead, to see everything through a materialistic lense.
Blackfive with this sad thought:
There is no question that since the election results earlier this month, many service members are wondering if they are going to be left hanging by the American people who seem to want to quit early on a military operation that those fighting believe they are winning. This has happened before and those who serve today are well aware of the way things went last time. But as difficult as it must be to fight and bleed for your country and come home unappreciated and derided, it might be worse to be pitied as a hapless moron duped by the Man and used for his enrichment. Today’s warriors are facing the prospect of both.
1968 here we come.
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Curt,
THIS is what I have feared all along…that our troops would be (once again) paying the price for weak-kneed politicians whose ONLY goal is to get re-elected and stay in power. That, unfortunately is the way of all wars and is should be the everlasting shame of these people who never relent in their criticisms of not only the Commander-in-Chief…but now the very people who defend our way of life.
Once again, instead of honoring those to whom we owe EVERYTHING…they have heaped disrespect onto blind jealousy. There is not a single one of those now criticizing and demeaning the intelligence of our military, INCLUDING some who have served in previous wars (and should KNOW better) that are now fit to speak of themselves in the same breath as these “our finest” patriots! Yeah, I know they once served with honor (at least some of them). We owe them our thanks for that, not our blind faith in their absolute moral authority.
THIS is why Congress was not given the authority or the duty to wage wars by our constitution. That awesome responsiblity is properly in the hands of ONE person…the ELECTED Commander-in-Chief! Yet here we are, five years into WWIII, and the Congress wants to quit. They simply will NOT acknowledge or allow that we MUST WIN…DEFEAT IS NOT AN OPTION!!! “Peace with honor” is a DANGEROUS FANTASY and always has been. It’s what they tell themselves to justify cowardice. Pure and simple.
God bless our troops and bring them home safe WHEN the job is done.
Carol