Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Democrats mix class warfare and military service

When Kerry claimed that if you were smart, you could avoid having to join the military and getting sent to Iraq, he was simply saying in a different way what democrats have been saying for years.

However, they usually use the class warfare language, rather than the educational level language. But it is clear if you look at what Kerry said that he is equating education level with your living "class" as an adult:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Education is the key to a better lifestyle. Kerry is saying that if you don't concentrate on education, study hard, do your homework, you will not "do well", meaning you will end up a poor person.

And what do poor people do, according to the Democrats? Join the military, because they have no other job choices. For example, this from the Democrat Leadership Council (with members such as Senator Clinton and Carper, Gov. Vilsack, and others):

In the 1950s, about one-half of the graduating classes of Princeton and Harvard entered the service for a tour of duty. Today, less than 1 percent do. Likewise, in 2003 only slightly more than 1 percent of members of Congress had a child serving. This is not a Democrat-versus-Republican issue. It is a class issue. Small-town, religious, and middle-class Democrats or Republicans are more likely to have someone in the military in their extended social group than wealthy partisans of either party living in big cities.


Or this comment from Congressman Democrat Charles Rangle:

"I truly believe that those who make the decision and those who support the United States going into war would feel more readily the pain that's involved, the sacrifice that's involved, if they thought that the fighting force would include the affluent and those who historically have avoided this great responsibility."

"Those who love this country have a patriotic obligation to defend this country. For those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance."


Then there is this from Congressman John Conyers, on the record:

What our bill does is address the growing disparity in socio-economic background between those who go to fight our nation's conflicts and those who send them. The statistics show that minorities and the working class segments of society constitute a disproportionate percentage of the military. African Americans represent 21 percent of the military as opposed to 13 percent of the civilian age population.

Only 24 percent of the persons in the military have parents in white collar management jobs, while that is true for 34 percent of the general military population. It is plain fact that the military does not come from the higher socio-economic status of society.


So Democrats are on record complaining about poorer, less educated people disproportionately serving in the military. So why shouldn't we beleive that Kerry meant to point out the economic disparity in military service when he clearly said that if you work hard in school, you can "do well", and therefore not have to take a job serving in the military?

5 comments:

Jackson Landers said...

Well that's it - I'm not voting for John Kerry! I think I'm gonna vote for Jim Webb instead.

Kerry isn't even running for office this year. This is the weirdest, most pointless attack I've seen in an election in a long time. Your back is against the wall, you're set to lose the House and your Senate candidate is 5 points behind Jim Webb. Do you talk about your record? No. Do you present a positive agenda for Virginia's future. No. Quick - start attacking some guy from Massachusetts who isn't even a candidate for office! Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

Doomed, doomed, doomed. This is the lamest excuse for a 'message' I've ever seen in the final week of a race.

Charles said...

We are just trying to agree with James Webb, who said Kerry was so bad he wouldn't even SPEAK to him.

But I forget, agreeing with a democrat's position from yesterday is a negative personal attack, since the democrat's position today is likely to be 180 degrees different.

Like when Webb now puts his arm around Kerry and takes his campaign contributions.

It's kind of funny bringing up "positive agenda for Virginia's future", beause we've been posting all the reasons Allen is good for the Virginia, and Webb doesn't have anything to say about Virginia, it's all about Iraq and some deserted pacific island.

And on the rare occasion Webb actually mentions some other policy, like trade sanctions, it is horrible for Virginia, so much so that Governor Tim Kaine has to belittle the idea and call it crazy.

The democrats are trying to put a reactionary, Buchanon-type republican into the Senate. Maybe they are hoping he'll quit after 10 months like he did his last job, and Kaine can appoint a REAL democrat to take his place.

Charles said...

JL:

Allen misspeaks one word, and in doing so insults ONE person, and Webb calls for him to resign and says he is unfit to be a senator.

Kerry, if you believe his "explanation", misspoke SEVERAL words, and in the process insulted every single one of the men and women in the military serving in Iraq. Will webb call for him to resign, and say he is unfit to be a senator?

Anonymous said...

Hey just surfing. I am an econ geek and thought that Kerry made a very good point. A college education used to be an indication of an easy life with a good job and future, today average students are in more debt are entering a weaker job market; California is very expensive. Kerry wasn't insulting the military he was letting the students know that school isn't a free ride anymore. All we focus on is information designed for very poor students, middle class students are left to fend for themselves and told that all they need to do is get a degree, when their jobs too could be outsourced.

As ordinary people don't know what to make of the economy it is very easy for people to start living paycheck to paycheck and rack up large debts, with poor luck it is easy to slip into downward mobility. This is something we have scrutinized for years in regards to credit card debt but student loans are averaging around 7% at this point, which is higher then my credit card. It's something to be careful of and was something that the students should be aware of. It is also very difficult to declair bankruptsy on student loan debts.

When social classes are change, as they do with any change in the way people signal skills, then it is only fair that average people are not the last to know: most young americans at this point have attended some college, so this is an issue for a lot of 20-somethings.

Anonymous said...

The point is, which class war was he starting? I honestly haven't heard much about the the cost of graduating college, all I've heard about lately is the cost of not graduating college or high school.

Some middle class kids are getting so desparate to get in the "perfect school" that they are literally suing officials over rejecting their test scores, such as that chick in Michigan. I mean that's kind of weird.