Army recruiting at low. Is anyone surprised? This is just another way that the people are speaking: these Bush wars are a tragic mistake for our country, and need to be ended now
Sep 30th, 2005 by jimmoore
Is this a surprise?
A good thing about a democracy is that it is difficult to muster the will to continue wars that are ill-advised and that fail to achieve results that are thought meaningful by the people who serve, and by their families.
In the short run, a democracy can field a force on the say-so of a president. People will trust the president’s judgment.
In the long run, the people of a democracy make their own determination of the wisdom of fighting a particular war. In the case of a war that proves unwise, the people often more willing than the president to admit their personal error in supporting that war. The people are willing to cut their losses and move forward into a new and better future, in part to save the lives of their sons, daughters, husbands and wives. The people have little respect for the idea that new deaths are needed to “honor” those already tragically dead.
Sometimes, of course, the people of a democracy determine that a particular war is a “just war.” In the case of WWII, a sense of justification grew as the war progressed and it became apparent that the price of war was worth paying.
In the case of the war in Iraq a majority of Americans question why we are figthing there. They increasingly believe that this war is an unjustified waste of lives, futures, the health of a generation, family stability for millions of children of active-duty and reserve-duty (now called up) parents, emergency preparedness (Katrina), and billions in taxes paid by the people for this war.