• You must support
our men and women in uniform no matter where they serve and without regard
to your opinion of the war in which they are struggling. Putting a “Support
our Troops” sticker on
your bumper isn’t enough.
There are many ways to materially support our troops. One of the best is to demand
that your government not abandon our men and women when they return from combat
-- that adequate funds are allocated to ease, as much as possible, the physical
and emotional injuries that these veterans bring home with them. Use the Internet
to search for organizations that accept donations for the material support of
our underpaid troopers and their families. Give as much as you can afford --
more than you can afford -- to one or more of these organizations. Check with
your Post Office to see if it is still selling phone cards for the troopers.
You buy the phone card and leave it behind; the U.S. Postal Service sends it
to Iraq or Afghanistan. Find out what the men and women on the front lines need
and send care packages. Contact a Veterans’
Hospital to volunteer. Our men and women in uniform and their families are paying
a heavy price -- too often the ultimate price -- for the privilege of serving
our country; surely you can find a few dollars and a few hours to do your part.
• You must
inform yourself about the war. That’s the hard part, but the future
of your country is at stake, and more immediately, the precious lives of our
men and women in uniform are at stake (so this is another way of supporting our
men and women in uniform.) Informing yourself about the war means turning off
your television and going to the newspaper that comes to your home and to newspapers
around the world via the Internet. It means reading books. In the case
of the current wars, it means informing yourself about the history of the Islamic
world as well as studying current events in the Islamic world. It means examining
the rationale for the war and determining for yourself if it is valid or false.
You must determine for yourself whether a war -- any war -- is being fought for
the purpose of protecting the United States and its interests from a clear and
present danger, or whether it is being fought for a less noble purpose. If you
determine that a war is necessary to protect our country, then you must do all
that you can do -- in a material way, and not with bumper stickers -- to
help win that war. Enlist. Get your children to enlist. Work in a defense plant.
Demand a tax increase to fund the war. If you decide that the war is unnecessary,
you must demand that our political leaders find a way to end the
war and bring our troops home quickly. 150 million letters from registered
voters will quickly change the policies of any leader of
any political party in the United States. Of course, the best time to do this
is before we go to war...
Can you oppose a war and support
the soldiers at the front line at the same time? This is where
Americans tend to be very confused. Many people think that opposing a
war is somehow unpatriotic, and that such opposition is tantamount to
failing to support our men and women in uniform. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Our obligation is to the men and women in uniform,
not to the politicians who sent them to war. Questioning the motives
and actions of our political leaders is the highest duty of a patriot,
and a
human being has no higher calling than opposing war.
Do the things in the first and second paragraphs above, and you may count
yourself a patriot.
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