The Audacity of Dopes: The Regressive Right's Happy Memorial Day Message to the Troops

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/14941

The Audacity of Dopes: The Regressive Right's Happy Memorial Day Message to the Troops
by David Michael Green | May 30, 2008



Greetings, American Servicemen and Servicewomen (those of you who are still alive) -

'Happy' Memorial Day.

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Perhaps you're also a bit incensed that we who send you off to fight wars never bother to show up ourselves. Maybe you heard that Bush got his daddy to get him into the very safe Texas Air National Guard during Vietnam (and then didn't even show up for that). Pretty shameful, eh? Well, at least he's decided to give up golf for the duration of this war. No one can say that the man doesn't sacrifice for his country. Or maybe you're angry that Ashcroft got seven draft deferments, or that Cheney got five and literally even said "I had better things to do in the Sixties than fight in Vietnam", or that Wolfowitz didn't go, or Feith or Perle or any of the rest of them, or that Romney thinks that his five boys working on his presidential campaign is a contribution equivalent to serving in Iraq. We can see why that might make you mad, but sorry, friends, this is war, and everybody has a role to play. You dudes get to be the fodder. We're the profiteers. Got it? We'd appreciate it very much if you'd just do your job, and let us do ours. That way, we don't have to throw you into some Guantanamo-like pit for the rest of your miserable life on some trumped up charge, in order to discredit and silence you.

Sure, it sucks. But don't feel too bad. We do have one final gift for you - a special Memorial Day present. We're going to do our best to make sure that the new GI Bill that would give you decent college benefits is treated to the same fate as we gave to Saddam, with about the same degree of dignity, too. Even though god knows you've earned it. Even though it was one of the smartest things this country ever did last time around. Even though the story we're running around trumpeting as our excuse for opposing benefits for the people we always wrap ourselves in during election time - that it would result in sixteen percent of the armed forces retiring so they could obtain the benefit - is nonsense, because the same Congressional Budget Office study that produced that finding also showed that the bill would increase recruitment by exactly the same amount, as more people signed-up to receive the benefit.

And even though - in what is the most remarkably shameful behavior of all by people who wouldn't know shame if it hit them like a bunker-buster bomb - the underlying logic of this argument is that we cannot give you this benefit because you've earned it, you more than deserve it, and damn if you wouldn't actually use it. Therefore we'd lose you, and since we're unwilling to risk our own fortunes by having a draft, we can't have that. So, our way of saying thanks to you, our way of supporting the troops, our way of showing our patriotism this Memorial Day, is to deny you these benefits so that we can further exploit you yet further, after which time we will still be denying you these benefits.

All of which might make you wonder, "How do these guys ever win elections? How is it these guys are in the White House, instead of cleaning up litter by the side of the road with the rest of the chain gang?" To which we might respond, "How come morons like you keep voting for us?" It's really not so difficult to figure out. We use hate and fear and divisiveness to win elections, and they work great. Wetbacks, ragheads, niggers, fags, kikes, bitches. Whatever. As long as it isn't plutocrats, we don't really care what the prejudice du jour might be. Just as long as you're thinking about something else as we pick your pocket or line you up in battle formation. Or, in the case of you dumb SOBs and this whole GI Bill thing, doing both at the same time.

How can this happen in an America that claims to love and support the troops, that is as nationalistic and as armchair-patriotic as can be? It can happen because we make sure to keep this war as invisible as possible to the whole country. That's why there's no draft. That's why there's no tax increases. That's why you don't see the flag-draped caskets coming back to Dover Air Force Base anymore. That's why the media are embedded and censored and perhaps even murdered. That's why we pay whores like Scott McClellan to lie to you. Maybe the rest of you muttonheads weren't paying attention during Vietnam, but we sure as hell were. Who says America didn't learn any lessons in Southeast Asia?

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So, yeah, sure. On this Memorial Day, Americans are appreciative of all that you do.

But, more than anything, what they really appreciate is the day off work.

Thank you for your service!
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