Revisiting the Vietnam War--and the Liberal response.
There was an article in the Orlando Sentinel yesterday for Memorial Day, which was the product of an interview with a Vietnam Vet. He recalled, in painful detail, the memories of being called a baby killer. It was the kind of experience that will always create a wedge between the right and the left, or more to the point, will continued to be used against the left. I'm not sure that there will ever be full resolution and forgiveness, but I offer these thoughts.
From my observations, I don't believe that protesting that war, in general, was a mistake. What was a huge error was taking out frustrations on the soldiers, who were only serving their country. It was like taking it out on your own brother for doing something he really had no control over.
Because of that war, we know to direct our ire and criticism at people who hold higher office, instead of Americans who are used as pawns to facilitate programs that have no benefit to our country in the long run. It is sad to see how our leaders continue to make wrong-minded decisions, and it is frustrating to be aware that they do it knowing that they will be far from the media light by the time history logs their legacies as an utter failure.
But, I'm going on a tangent. Here is my point: The Liberal party, as we have come to know it, was in its infancy during the sixties. In 1970, I turned twelve years of age and what I saw of the Vietnam War came from housing on a military base. I didn't take part in any protest against the Vietnam War, though I questioned why that war was allowed to continue for so long--and I never really understood the strategic reason for our involvement. I felt close to our military men, and, indeed, came across them daily as we drove in and out of the civilian base, or when they walked up and down on our streets to patrol the neighborhood. They were kids, just like my older brother and sister.
In fact, I remember when my brother got his lottery number to see if he was going to be drafted. It was a family experience to be there when he opened the letter, because this was an event that would affect our entire family. If he was drafted, our minds and thoughts would be forever with him, halfway around the world. It was a dread that every family in that era had, if they had a son who was about to turn eighteen.
I remember looking intently at my father's face since that's how we would interpret the results. And I remember feeling the knot in my stomach disappear when he took a sigh of relief and said, "It's a high number. They don't usually make selections up in this range."
And with that, the Vietnam War became a conflict that we watched from our t.v.s, where we were left to wonder why it was taking so long to either achieve our objectives, or withdraw our men from that "conflict" which was killing our young men at a level as high as any war.
So, my impressions of the Liberals who were Stateside and marching in protests was also watched from television. And what I saw was young people who were making their political might known for the very first time. And, with the stakes so high, they showed their inexperience about the way politics works in the U.S., by targeting the wrong people.
The article in the paper even resurrected Jane Fonda's lamentable role. But she was just in her thirties and when it came to protesting ill-thought out wars, as a country, we had little to go on. It's no wonder that the first time around, the protests would be more emotionally driven, rather than rationally thought out.
And let's face it, that era was a youthful revolt. It was the very young rebelling against the ambitions of old autocrats, who were part of a military industry that can't seem to operate without obtaining blind obedience and blood sacrifices from the young.
That's what I saw as a child of the sixties. I wish I could say it was the only mis-step that Liberals have made in my time, but I will venture to say, that of all the mistakes that were made, that one seems to be one that we can all agree, will never be made again.
So I once again affirm my thanks to all the soldiers who have served their country and those who died for my Constitutional right for freedom and equality. I realize that what they started overseas, is a battle that still continues on our own soil. And, if we really are intent in honoring their sacrifice, we would understand that it requires each one of us to finish what they started.
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"Hell, the whole point of all the mobilization and demonstrating was to get our soldiers home from a pointless war, just as soon as possible."
