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Two recent guest columns seem to me to need discussion. One expressed the belief that men who went to Canada during the Vietnam War to avoid the drafts should be tried and executed for their actions. Well I guess we should also include men who avoided the drafts and Vietnam service by volunteering for the National Guard and Reserve in these mass executions. And also men who applied for and received college draft deferments and of course the ones who quickly married when Uncle Sam wasn’t drafting married men. But if we added all these men to our list of “traitors,” Bill Clinton and George Bush would never have been elected to be president of the United States. Dick Cheney and the vast majority of our present Congress would now be dead, along with more than 90 percent of the sons of the well to do and wealthy in this country.
The fact is the Vietnam War was fought largely by the sons of this nation’s poor and lower middle class. The people who did the dying were almost all Army and Marine Corps. The 58,000 men killed in that war and the quarter million maimed for life were not the sons of the rich, powerful and educated — or even the sons of the well off. The men too smart to be used as cannon fodder used the system to accomplish the exact same results as the men who went to Canada.
Who is less patriotic — the men who supported the war and avoided combat service or the men who didn’t support the war and avoided service? It’s the hypocrisy of the war supporters that gives me the most heart burn.
I don’t exclude myself from combat avoidance. The threat of the draft was one of the reasons I joined the Air Force in 1963. I have cousins who joined the Navy for the same reason. With the exception of a hand full of aviators and river boat crewmen, we in the Air Force and Navy were safe. It’s pretty easy to condemn others when you spent the war on some safe base or ship.
The other column I reference is the one supporting voter ID laws. I completely agree that voting should be restricted to citizens who have not lost their right to vote due to a felony conviction. The problem with voter ID laws is that there is absolutely no evidence that non-citizens and felons are attempting to vote. The cases of voter fraud in this country are limited to a few dozen in the entire country over the last 10 years. And almost all of these cases involved absentee voting. The total number of fraudulent votes wouldn’t affect the outcome of a single dog catcher.
In a nation that can’t get its legal voters to the polls, the idea that people who avoid contact with government for any reason have suddenly developed an intense interest in politics is too ridiculous to discuss further.
But these laws are not harmless, about 10 percent of legal voters do not have a picture ID. These voters are overwhelming elderly, female, poor, young or minorities. These laws are really aimed at making voting more difficult for people who usually vote Democrat. These laws are just another example of the moral corruption of the Republican Party in their quest to achieve and maintain political power; I remember when laws were passed to encourage voting.
Dennis Tilly is a guest columnist and resident of Weatherford. He is double retired from the Air Force and insurance business.
Viewpoints
COLUMN: Others who missed the war; why ID law is bad
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CNHI EDITORIAL: Seizure of AP phone records an insult to independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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NOW HEAR THIS: ‘What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate’
This famous quote addressing communication failure is a classic line from the 1967 movie “Cool Hand Luke,” starring Paul Newman. Strother Martin, who played the role of the warden in a southern prison, would use this phrase every time he gave Luke a good whack with his baton. The concept resonated so well with moviegoers that it was voted No. 11 of the 100 all-time favorite movie quotes according to the American Film Institute.
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Letters to the Editor – May 19, 2013
Do you remember the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” sign that the personnel on the USS Abraham Lincoln displayed to greet President Bush when he went out to greet them?
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Guest opinion: Campaign with honor
All politics is local and personal! I hope that you and your family have a wonderful summer, filled with relationship building experiences and times of relaxation. As you do all the things that re-charge us for the next round at work and involvement in community and political activities, let’s reflect on the 2013 local elections for a moment.
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TISCIONE: Woe for calling evil good
You don’t often see “woe” used in an article. It’s a word that has fallen out of usage in our day. But it’s a word that ought to be understood and taken seriously.
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Letters to the Editor – May 17, 2013
As mercury pollution threatens our waterways and carbon pollution-fueled climate change worsens extreme weather, we need someone in Washington who knows how to get things done.
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Letters to the Editor – May 15, 2013
I just wanted to express my heartfelt thanks to the slobs, idiots and inconsiderate people who continually decorate the beautiful Texas landscape with their trash. I guess it’s really a form of art with beer bottles and cans, boxes, plastic drink containers, food packaging and just about anything else you can think of. It just doesn’t appeal to me. Thank you.
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NOW HEAR THIS: Not by the hairs of my chinny chin chin
I had never really considered this possibility, but every one of the Three Little Pigs was almost certainly a guy. I know that assumption is not particularly popular from an equal opportunity standpoint, but the fact is fairly certain. How do I know? They all three had hair on their chinny chin chins.
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ESTES: Securing a bright future for Texas
Texas businesses have created more than 500,000 jobs since November 2011. Our economy is growing nearly 50 percent faster than the rest of the country and our cost of living remains low.
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TISCIONE: ‘It’s not about me’
“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night.”
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