i miss mike royko

one of the greatest american writers, possibly the greatest satirist...i was thumbing through some old columns when i came across one about veterans day and what congress should do with it...it ended with this final bit of what should be law on veterans day...

"Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn’t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day."

makes me wonder just how many of those folks in washington that pushed for or voted for sending troops over to iraq ever actually put on a military uniform...then i wonder how far that number would drop if you dont take into account the coast guard. not that i am one to talk...i considered the military, and have turned away from it. which also bothers me...our society is set up in such a way now that we steer our "best and brightest" away from serving their country...or even their community. of course...our best and brightest usually refers to rich, white college graduates...we seem to have no problem steering the brown folk into the military (but that is a whole nother subject).

problem is...the best military men that have made it to president have also been some of the worst presidents in history...and some of the best presidents never saw military action. but what about members of congress? are military members of congress proving to be good at their job? is anyone in congress proving to be good at their job? is it possible to be good at your job if you are in congress?

regardless...i would feel much more comfortable with civilian leadership making the decisions about sending troops into danger if they knew what that meant...really knew. i suppose we will have to wait a generation for those folks currently fighting to get into public service though. but then, isnt the generation that endured vietnam at that point now...and yet most of our leaders managed to avoid real service in europe, the pacific, africa, korea or vietnam...so maybe it is hopeless...i mean, we did manage to put a draft dodger into the white house and then follow him with an awol national guardsman...and they are the ones in charge of the military.