Posted on 01/15/2005 4:19:58 AM PST by Clive
I have to admit it. U.S. President George Bush is beginning to grow on me.
In an interview with a Washington newspaper this past week, he made two statements that have landed him in a certain amount of trouble, but which are in fact supremely wise.
The first was that a political leader, particularly an American president, should be a person of faith. The second was that women should never have to fight on the ground, in the front line, in a military conflict.
As for the former, he is absolutely correct. People who believe in their own supremacy rather than that of a higher being are far more capable of acts of sadism and horror. Stalin, Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot, among others, have taught us that.
Yes, I know that religious people have committed terrible crimes down the ages, but they have done so in spite of, and in contradiction to, their beliefs. Atheists have no such moral compass and may act according to will and whim.
Popular myth has it that religion has caused more wars and led to more suffering than anything else in history. Glib and gruesome. Death camps, genocide and world wars are almost exclusively the product of the hatred, not the love, of God.
As for the latter remark, Bush's view of women in combat may be unfashionable, but that does not make it any less ethical or accurate.
Equality does not mean the elimination of differences. Women can be prime ministers, women can be editors, women can be business leaders, women can be almost anything they want to be.
They have a fundamental right to equal pay, equal privileges and equal dignity. But the right to not be women is not a right at all but an abuse of nature. And women as killers is precisely that, a destruction of the quintessence of what it means to be a female.
Front-line soldiers exist to shoot, injure and kill. And sometimes to die. We can pretend that the combat death of a woman, a mother, is just the same as the loss of a man, a father, but lies of political convenience have never been particularly useful.
There are also issues of sheer practicality. No man worth the description would defend a male comrade in need before he defended a female soldier. Thus women in combat infantry roles would put other fighters in profound danger.
More than this, however, there is something sacred and unique about a woman's ability to give birth, to nurse, to be the epicentre of life. This is not an opinion but a bright, shining reality. One that, if we are honest, only an enemy of women would reject.
It's also worth remembering that a great many of the people who push gender equality in the armed forces and are angry at Bush care not a jot for the armed forces -- but care everything for gender equality. They follow an obsession, which at its logical conclusion will obliterate the differences between men and women.
Feminism was at one time a means to an end, a way of improving the lot of women. It has now too often become an end in itself, confused in its ideology and confusing in its intentions.
Feminists embraced peace and were opposed to war. Now they want women to drop bombs on the enemies of their government.
Countries such as Israel, with years of bloody war experience, experimented with using women in combat roles but quickly reversed the policy.
In the first Gulf war, the U.S. used a small number of women as pilots. Some performed well, some went to pieces -- one was captured and repeatedly raped by her captors.
Yet even if all of them had been heroes, we must question a society that increasingly marginalizes motherhood but desires its women to plunge bayonets and throw grenades. It's a sin to stay at home with the children and have a large family, but a modernist virtue to fire a flame-thrower.
It's really very simple. The day women as front-line soldiers die to defend any country is the day that country is no longer worth defending.
Bush understands this. Perhaps because he is precisely what he said in his interview -- a man of faith.
ping
There is no front line in the non-linear fight in which we are engaged [in Iraq]. For example, an IED does not discrimate between genders or locations.
very nice piece....
after being reminded about the repeated rape of our female prisioners, I think we let the guys at Abu Grab walk
Just what is a republican and why is anyone who isn't a born again Christian not
acceptable as a citizen.
I assume that 90% of blacks should go, all Moslems, Jews, Catholics, atheists, Hispanics and on and on are undesirable
I am a republican and voted that way. I served my country in war as long as capable and firmly believe that the country is made up of wonderful caring intelligent people who deserve the right to believe what they want, how they want, and vote the same way.
Of course I have the right to try sway them my way.
More than this, however, there is something sacred and unique about a woman's ability to give birth, to nurse, to be the epicentre of life. This is not an opinion but a bright, shining reality. One that, if we are honest, only an enemy of women would reject.
Apparently the Palestinians don't regard their womens deaths to be any more significant than males, in view of the increase of utilization of female homicide bombers. I wonder if Pali women think of them as enemies.
My thoughts exactly. Chivalry is alive and well. There's a reason men feel protective of women and its a reflection of human nature. No matter how hard the feminazis try to change it, it always reasserts itself. We don't want women dying where they shouldn't. The President is simply restating common sense in this area. And let's make sure women are never placed in a situation in wartime where men have to defend them at the expense of the mission.
Mornin'. Thanks for the post.
How would he drawl 'eh?' eh?
For me the test is what they do - not what they profess.
A certain former President had this really big Bible he'd carry to church...
Flt 93...
"You try finding a black church that isn't overwhelmingly Democrat."
I attend a Southern Baptist church that is ninety-nine percent white and overwhelmingly Republican but we have a few black members who are welcomed and seem to feel comfortable with us. Why do you have to find a black church?
ping
Sounds Like one Canadian that gets it. There may be hope for Canada after all.
The Muslim fanatics terrorist we are battling now are highly religious and spend a whole lot more time expressing their devotion then we do.It's true that some of the most evil people on the planet today are deeply religious Islamofacists. And it's true that given the chance, they would love to break all records set by the mass-murderers of the 20th century.
But so far, all the records --- all the extremely high body-counts --- are held by atheists/socialists.
Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler (National Socialism).
I'm not saying that the Islamofacists won't some day break those mass-murder records... but as it stands today, those records are all held by atheists.
************
Sad, but true, imho.
Very good. Thanks for sharing this with us, Clive.
Rest assured that Bush is no Clinton. This president really is a man of faith.
"Flt 93..."
Imagine if there were only women and children on that flight. I think the result would have been the same... You?
BTTT
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