Broken Promises

It's fascinating to be reading about the day to day experience of average soldiers in the Continental Army during the American Revolution as our country wages war in the present day. The language may be different, but the humanity is just the same.

The militiamen and soldiers of the era describe wages and rations that never materialize - not so different from the body armor Bush didn't budget for, or veterans' pensions buried in red tape. Rich men, quick to shout about the importance of freedom and liberty, were just as quick to buy their way out of military service, happy to let the poor and uneducated do the dying on behalf of their principles.

Have we come so far from those days? Are the principles we espouse today - 'making the world safe for democracy' - so different? And are the people doing the fighting so far removed from the working class, debt-ridden citizens of 200 years ago?

I'm a privileged man. I can't say I know what it feels like to weigh the shortage of food on my children's plates against the possibility of my own death in a foreign war. But that's why I'm so skeptical of pronouncing our country's 'obligation' to protect 'freedom' - our own, or others'. What kind of freedom leaves some people safe and sends others to their death based on financial wealth?

When I see a bumper sticker that says 'Freedom Isn't Free' I'm not sure what to think. I agree, for one. Clearly, there's a huge cost being paid by families across the country when so many thousands of people, Americans or not, are dying in a war of which no one can clearly explain the cause. Not to mention the $344 billion we've spent to date making it happen. But the shallow implication of that bumper sticker phrase is this: Freedom isn't free... so stop asking questions and act like you love this war, for the sake of our troops.

It's a very sad day indeed when we feel the need to pressure each other into that sort of thinking in this country - a country built on principles, if not practice, that tout the equality of all people, and the right of each of them to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

I take my privilege very seriously. In fact, I consider it my obligation, in defense of those men and women willing to give their lives to protect me and my family, to use the excellent education I've received, the comfort and safety I enjoy, and the peace in my home, my city and my country to ask the questions that will protect them in their choice to protect me.

Is it appropriate to ask my army to sacrifice months or years, if not their very lives, to protect my access to cheap gasoline? Is it right that our fellow citizens are being put in harm's way to prop up the failed policies of another country, Israel, based on simplistic American Christian fundamentalist ideals? Or to ask them to die for the vague promise of strategic military positioning in the Middle East?

I think these are questions that our fellow citizens in the military deserve answers to - even those who aren't asking these questions out loud. If I were in their shoes, I would hope that the people I was protecting cared enough about me to make sure the cause I fought for was worthy of my great service and sacrifice.

War is a class issue. Any politician who won't talk about class because he fears for his next round of campaign contributions is serving too many masters.

I believe in the principles our country is supposed to be about. I believe they should be questioned, debated, refined, celebrated and most of all practiced. That's why when I hear the phrase 'Freedom isn't Free', people like Tatanka Yotanka (Sitting Bull), Martin Luther King, Jr., and Matthew Shepard come to mind - people who have died and contributed to a legacy of freedom that I'm enjoying today. The question is, am I spending my time lounging in that freedom given to me, or am I continuing the work, creating and preserving freedom for my children?