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Long Line of Chickenhawks
Cindy Sheehan
An anti-war activist at a town hall meeting in Iowa
recently asked Mitt Romney why not ONE of his five
sons served the USA in the military. The woman's
brother had been in Iraq and she understandably would
have liked to know if the Romney family was so
supportive of BushCo's war of terror why didn't they
support it with their own flesh and blood.
Mitt Romney said that his five privileged elite
stockbroker/real estate boys are supporting our nation
by helping get their father "elected." We could
dispute the allegation of how getting a pandering,
war-mongering, born-again abortion foe elected is good
for our country, but that's not the point. The point
is the ruling class elite who don't have to worry
about health-care, jobs, or how they are going to pay
for their children's college tuition send our children
to fight and die in their wars that only make them
richer while sending working-class families into life
times of despair.
58,000 mothers and 58,000 fathers (many of whose
children were drafted, but not all) found out how
being part of the lower classes during Vietnam was
detrimental to your family and thousands of vets from
Vietnam are still fighting for physical and mental
health benefits from a government who sent them off to
a immoral war. Almost twice as many Vietnam Vets have
killed themselves as were killed there; and the
biggest percentage of our nation's scandalous homeless
problem are Veterans. Almost 4,000 mothers are feeling
the same despair from Iraq...and already we are seeing
Iraq War veterans on the streets and commiting
suicide. Somehow I don't think electing Mitt Romney
will help to alleviate any of this suffering.
In the true chickenhawk tradition, Mitt Romney, did
not go to Vietnam. He was doing Mormon "missionary"
work: whatever that means. I guess he could have been
in a hot, steamy, jungle fighting fear, fatigue,
death, and boredom while trying to score heroin, but
somehow I feel that is not the case. When I was youth
minister at St. Mary's in Vacaville, I had many Mormon
missionaries bike into my office to try and save me
from the sin of "Catholicism." Honestly, the
Republican chickenhawks should get together and form a
club and laugh about how they avoided Vietnam and how
their children don't have to go to Iraq so their
daddies and granddaddies can't grease the war machine
with their own flesh and blood.
Romney also stated that we have an "all volunteer"
Army and it was going to "stay that way"?you bet it
is! Because then all the chickenhawks can absolve
themselves from the fact that they supported a nasty
war where people are being killed unnecessarily by
screaming: "Your son volunteered." Also the concept of
a "professional Army" is an imperialistic trick to
keep the ordinary citizen far away from the sacrifice
and keep them just anesthetized enough to not get
outraged and actually do something about it.
I have talked to college Republicans and young people
who have come to my events to yell obscene things at
me and I have asked them why, if they support George
and his war for profit, don't they go to the nearest
recruiter's office and enlist. Their answers are a lot
like Romney's. They are serving their country by going
to college so they can own businesses that will
"employ" the returning vets. Or, they are "serving"
their country by protesting me.
Many of our young people, especially people of color,
don't have a lot of options to get jobs, educations,
or out of their dangerous communities (isn't it
ironic) they join the military. As for Casey, I would
rather have him be flipping burgers in Vacaville, then
dead, but he felt he had to join the Army to take the
pressure off of our family for college. It is a tragic
trade.
If Romney's children have the option of serving our
nation by riding around in RV's and writing blogs,
then all of our children should have that option. For
our lower-socio economic children, working for the
candidate of their choice should come with a
$20,000.00 bonus and college tuition credits.
If the wealthy elite doesn't have to worry about
sending their children to college, then all of our
children who want to and quality should be able to go
to college for little or no tuition. They should not
have to trade their lives or physical or mental health
for a degree. We need to bring our tax dollars home
from Iraq and our manufacturing jobs back from
overseas to give our young people more options.
It's time to start talking about the poverty draft and
how the ruling class fascists get to protect their
children to the detriment of our children.
I don't think military service should be a requirement
to be the President?but a hypocrite is a hypocrite. If
a candidate supports this war, or future wars, I say
send your own child. That would prove you are serious
when you say my son died for a "noble cause."
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