This crop of Commanders issue arm-chair orders (and legislation) for others to kill and be killed—all over the world.
These men fake solemn salutes when facing military personnel and fake a “thoughts and prayers” mantra in the face of suffering soldiers.
These men fake heart-clutching poses at the sound of a militarist anthem
But these men have never and will never offer their bodies and minds to the direct onslaught of Napalm and other WMD chemical weaponry, mortar and deadly technology and machinery, landmines, cluster bombs, nuclear bombs.
Successive elected and aspiring American men (and women) have sat out wars, evaded military service (whether or not a strict draft was in force), and any semblance of non “elective” national volunteer (patriotic?) service.
From William Jefferson Blythe III known as Bill Clinton to Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (with the exception of dabbling “Texas Air National Guard Lt. George W. Bush”)—not a single man volunteered (“patriot are we”?) to serve his country.
Among an estimated twenty-five (2024) wannabe U.S. Presidents—who would ensconce themselves at the helm of inordinate power and would presume to decide the life and death of people around the world (including in the United States of America)—only two of these people have offered volunteer (*) national service to the United States of America.
In a May 28, 2023, article in the New Hampshire Journal, Michael Graham, Managing Editor of parent organization Inside Sources, asks
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In a May 28, 2023, article in the New Hampshire Journal, Michael Graham, Managing Editor of parent organization Inside Sources, asks
“In 2024 Presidential Race, Does Military Service Still Matter?” https://nhjournal.com/in-2024-potus-race-does-military-service-still-matter/The slant of the article, influenced no doubt by the Twitter age, seems more concerned with people’s off-the-cuff opinions than the fundamental principle (ignored: Americans are not good with principles) begging serious consideration.
Should a man or woman be considered for the position of Commander in Chief, Supreme Command of Armed Forces (the presidency of the United States of America) who has never served his or her homeland, the USA?
Particularly a man or woman —
- Who has never experienced the inescapable dare-not-express in a theater of war unrelenting FEAR?
- Who has never faced the onslaught of implements, machinery, technology, chemicals, counter-combatants (or “friendly fire”) of war or violent conflict?
- Who has never endured deeply invasive wounds to body and mind: disorders brought on by unavoidable trauma and resulting in unmanageable out-of-theater violent anger and aggression against self, family, home, society?
- Who has never suffered the inevitable, nightmarish consequences of subsisting in an arena of constant threat and potential threat, violence, aggression, and potential aggression?
Of the forty-five men who held the U.S. Presidency, 69 percent (31) were also U.S. military veterans. It would appear that those intimately familiar with the pain of war are less sadistic or less inclined to order others to suffer the paid of war.
My Position
From my point of view, the answer is that no one should be considered for the position of U.S. President without having had an established and clean record of national volunteer service (not including paid or elective access).
In addition to meeting the national volunteer (military or not) service requirement, a potential candidate (for any public office, including the executive office) should be examined by an independent investigator (and scrutinized by the citizenry) to determine physical, mental, emotional, moral, experiential fitness (qualification) for the position.
In addition to meeting the national volunteer (military or not) service requirement, a potential candidate (for any public office, including the executive office) should be examined by an independent investigator (and scrutinized by the citizenry) to determine physical, mental, emotional, moral, experiential fitness (qualification) for the position.
No man (or woman) should be permitted to sit in judgment on the life (or the life and death) of another.
If and when such necessity arises, the general populace must understand the gravity of such an undertaking and must set about deliberating long and hard on the quality of consciousness, conscience, competence, and character before ever granting such power.
A nation is as strong as its people.
The decline of a nation is commensurate with the weakened state of its people (population); the incestuous corruption of its leaders; the failure of its essential institutions, and the public’s loss of trust in leaders and institutions.
Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images
Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett
Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com
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https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/
https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett
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