APerno wrote:I respect everything you just wrote and I am not being cheeky with you when I say that. But when you say your reasons are based solely on moral . . . grounds you can't say things like: "World War II is one I would enthusiastically have gotten behind." Statements like that make you ineligible for CO status ... Look at the whole Ali situation, the Supreme Court held back his exoneration based the argument that he would have fought in a holy war. That statement alone kept him from receiving CO status. You can't say you would fight in WWII but not VN. That is a political statement.
It has nothing to do with politics. I'm a very conservative pro-life Democrat politically. The power to go to war is like the use of a gun. You can legally buy devises to fully automate rifles to fire hundreds of shots at the pull of a trigger and mow down hundreds of concert goers from your perch 38 stories up where you just broke your hotel window out and are ready to swing into action for whatever demented reasons you have.
Alternatively, a stunningly attractive young woman might buy a gun, go to a firing range and target practice until she becomes a very fast and accurate shooter. Learn how to load and unload it very quickly. Learn how to safely store and maintain the weapon -- all to give her peace of mind in case a maniac breaks into her home at night, intent on sexual assault. She can fend him off by threatening to shoot him, wound him, or if necessary, kill him, ending the danger to her life. She will most likely never have to use her weapon, but it gives her peace of mind -- as does having a strong military.
If you join the military as a kid you believe in it. You have no religious beliefs that military service or self-defense is contrary to the law of God.
If you have the ability to defend yourself and are confident you can beat just about anybody in a street fight – it doesn't mean it’s honorable to go around with a chip on your shoulder, acting tough, and spoiling for a fight – so you eventually get the opportunity to beat up some punk. That would be extremely immoral.
The same for a country flexing its military might against a weak adversary such as North Viet Nam or Iraq – though we knew potentially thousands of Americans would die and maybe millions of Vietnamese and Iraqis. We knew the war will be on their turf and our families of the folks ordering the action would be safe. Then the president who ordered this “military action” can don a flight jacket as Commander in Chief, board a warship and make a self-aggrandizing speech a week later about our swift and decisive military victory -- in a war which then dragged on for years.
Everybody loves a fight and beating an adversary – that’s part of wicked human nature. Just like being a sexual predator is a great temptation for men and women alike. The hard part is listening to our better angles and behaving ourselves. When I talked to those hardened military men I knew I was getting to them. Killing people for no good reason is wrong. Everyone instinctively knows this – just as they know cheating on their wife or husband is wrong. That’s why they do it in secret. But some folks think it’s manly to cheat on you wife – otherwise Trump wouldn’t be prez.
