The poem 'It is the soldier" disturbs me

[jmowreader]

It is my duty as a veteran to bring up this odious poem. You've seen it: "It is the soldier, not the journalist, who has given us freedom of the press." And other such lines.

By this logic, the bigger the army is the more free you are, and North Korea with a million men under arms is the most free country on the planet.

The biggest threat to freedom and the American Way of Life is the Republican Party. We know this because all the freedom-sapping legislation of the last 40 years started with them. Our soldiers can't protect us from one of our own political parties.

It is the Constitution, not the soldier, that gave us all those freedoms...and they were tacked on as an afterthought.

[smokey nj]

1. I agree.

[NuclearDem]

2. It makes me want to puke, honestly.

[ck4829]

3. Things like that just serve to dehumanize soldiers as tools using a warrior mythos

I have brought this up in another post that could be said here as well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023994870#post9

[MANative]

4. My late father served as an officer in the US Army for 27 years and he would have agreed with you

He was rightly proud of his service, but felt that the jingoistic tendencies that glorified the military were horribly misplaced. He looked at his service as a job, and that job was to protect the Constitution which was the source of each of our freedoms. His life was cut short in part by his exposure to Agent Orange in Southeast Asia, and he knew that he, in fact, had given his life for his country, but he always recognized that he and his fellow servicemen and women were not the source of our freedom, merely a tool to try to ensure it.

[RoBear]

5. Bothers me too.

DAV has been using it in its commercials on TV. I have therefore begun donating to Good Will instead.

[el_bryanto]

6. It's one of those things that can be taken in more than one way

I do think we should be grateful for the sacrifices soldiers are willing to make on our behalf - particularly as I'm not willing to make those sacrifices. But it does seem to elevate the soldier above everybody else - making them the most important and beneficial people in our society, which I am not sure is accurate.

Bryant

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, jmowreader.