Public Service
Jun. 13th, 2009 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdOn someone else's journal a couple of nitwits are arguing with me about McCain's record of public service, countering with the laughable claims that (a) military service isn't public service and (b) Obama left a lucrative career for one in public service. One of them whines about having given many months and dollars to get Obama elected, and asked what I did, as if I supported either candidate, which I did not. For the record, though, I supported Chris Dodd for as long as he stayed in the race.
I am appalled that anyone would say enlisting in the military and risking death to defend one's country is not public service. Obviously these are people who have never put their lives on the line for anything. I've been there, most of the men of my generation have been there. I'm not a fan of the military, or of war or violence. I don't "support our troops" when they don't refuse to fight an illegal war or perform illegal acts. But whether you think John McCain is a hero or a poser, the fact is he enlisted voluntarily, he flew combat missions which put his life on the line, and was shot down and served 6 years in a Viet Cong prison camp as a result. Regardless of how shamefully you may think he was treated there, that's 6 years of his life he is never getting back, and 6 years more than you wimps will ever sacrifice as a result of serving your country.
Obama left a job on Wall Street which may or may not have been lucrative. Junior brokers are a dime a dozen, and turnover is high in that high-pressure environment. In his first book he says he felt uncomfortable as a colored person in a white world, but he was there during the height of Affirmative Action and a general opening up of the finance community to people of color, so I don't really buy that story. Regardless, I would not compare his minor financial sacrifice of working as a small-time, not particularly successful, community development worker with disinterested church groups to McCain's volunteering to get into a uniform and dodge bullets for a living. Or working in the US Congress for 27 years.
Both men have their good and bad. What I hate most about the cretins is they want to paint their hero as all good and his opponent as all bad. Both men have done heroic and despicable things during their lives, and we owe it to them and ourselves to laud the good while acknowledging the bad.
I am appalled that anyone would say enlisting in the military and risking death to defend one's country is not public service. Obviously these are people who have never put their lives on the line for anything. I've been there, most of the men of my generation have been there. I'm not a fan of the military, or of war or violence. I don't "support our troops" when they don't refuse to fight an illegal war or perform illegal acts. But whether you think John McCain is a hero or a poser, the fact is he enlisted voluntarily, he flew combat missions which put his life on the line, and was shot down and served 6 years in a Viet Cong prison camp as a result. Regardless of how shamefully you may think he was treated there, that's 6 years of his life he is never getting back, and 6 years more than you wimps will ever sacrifice as a result of serving your country.
Obama left a job on Wall Street which may or may not have been lucrative. Junior brokers are a dime a dozen, and turnover is high in that high-pressure environment. In his first book he says he felt uncomfortable as a colored person in a white world, but he was there during the height of Affirmative Action and a general opening up of the finance community to people of color, so I don't really buy that story. Regardless, I would not compare his minor financial sacrifice of working as a small-time, not particularly successful, community development worker with disinterested church groups to McCain's volunteering to get into a uniform and dodge bullets for a living. Or working in the US Congress for 27 years.
Both men have their good and bad. What I hate most about the cretins is they want to paint their hero as all good and his opponent as all bad. Both men have done heroic and despicable things during their lives, and we owe it to them and ourselves to laud the good while acknowledging the bad.
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-14 04:59 pm (UTC)For the record, I was not in the military. My public service involved helping rural SE Asia agriculture projects in a place and time when China-funded bandits were rewarded for shooting at government vehicles and kidnapping Americans.
As for your analogy, yes, exactly. The missing piece of my posting which I didn't think I had to write is John McCain is the son and grandson of US Navy admirals. He grew up in the military, his father and grandfather saw extensive combat service, he graduated from the US Naval Academy, and he knew exactly what he was volunteering for: Laying his life on the line in a career of service to his country. When he was no longer able to continue military service, he chose to serve his country in Congress.
I don't think he's some selfless saint, and I expect he loves the prestige and power which comes with the job, but despite what your commenter neighbor of his says, his other neighbors continue to re-elect him, and voted for him in the 2008 Presidential election. McCain has five residences, and spends most of his time in Washington, DC, so I wouldn't put too much stock in anyone who claims to be a neighbor in Arizona knowing him any better than I do.