It was not at all clear at that time, as I vividly recall, as to whether our cause was just or in vain, so these Americans, volunteers or draftee alike, acted from the perspective of loyalty to our country, its laws, and its leaders. It is the socialist bastards to whom you so rightly refer who brought dishonor to that bloody table.
Given the eternal perspective that you and I are so very much blessed to share, I am confident that their place of honor in the arms of a loving Father in Heaven is all the more assured by the way that they lived their lives on this earth. It is for that reason that they did not die in vain, as so many lived and now live their lives.......
Nor did I mean to slight them. I include them in my "rant" as it were.
And yes, it is true that the people who were serving did so with honor and out of a sense of loyalty to country.
But you'd NEVER know that given the continuing propaganda against the war from the Left, via Hollywood ("Coming Home," "Platoon," "Born on the Fourth of July," etc.) or from the vaunted NYT or WP, Dan, Peter and Tom, and the whole gang.
My point was that the failure of the American people to ignore all the rubbish being perpetrated by those who HATED this country and "loathed the military," couple with Watergate, ushered in the present era of ultra-left radicalism becoming the mainstream of one of the nation's major political parties.
Old line patriots in the Democrat Party were ushered out, and only those who at least paid lip-service to the cause of "Peace" were allowed to continue. Thus Jimmy Carter though in the past a staunch defender of the American way of life and a supporter of "Scoop" Jackson, had to 'moderate' his stance to where finally he extended a general amnesty to those who fled the country or went underground rather than serve.
This was ALL the result of We The People allowing ourselves to be manipulated by the very forces of Leftist hatred of this nation that we are battling today.
That beast should never have become so strong, WOULD never have become so powerful had the American people rallied behind the war effort.
And now I see the same thing starting to happen today with "Puff" Daschle and the Democrats who continue to define "loyalty to country" in terms of questioning everything about our war effort. They would NEVER have been so bold had We The People allowed them to "win" the debate over the Vietnam War.
So, I say again, those who sacrificed in that war did so, unwittingly or not, so that Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton and "Puff" Daschle and Barney Franks and Maxine Waters and their ilk could achieve power. That's just plain sad, and if We The People succumb to the Leftist propaganda that started up even while the ruins in New York and Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. were still smoking (if I heard "quagmire" once at the outset of the Afghan campaign I heard it a thousand times).
These people would NEVER have been so bold had they not tasted success in the Vietnam debates.