They say if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it. That is especially true of “official” lies because they are usually picked up, unquestionably, by establishment press sources that long ago sacrificed their roles as government watchdogs.
So it was again, over the Memorial Day weekend, that the administration trotted out Defense Secretary William Cohen to lament about chronic poor military recruitment levels.
Cohen said the reason was “The Good Economy” — you know, the same one in which both parents have to work and which has seen the highest tax rates per capita since the immediate post World War II era, the one controlled by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who ratchets up interest rates anytime U.S. economic growth surpasses a half percent per quarter.
Cohen’s assertion is lie — or, at least, not the complete truth.
Ever since the U.S. initiated an all-volunteer military in the waning years of the Vietnam fiasco, young Americans have chosen civilian careers over military ones because, let’s face it, the military doesn’t pay very well. In that sense, yes, “The Good Economy” excuse works because civilian jobs have always been more financially rewarding to most than base pay for soldiers, sailors and airmen.
Yet in earlier periods of great economic growth in past administrations, the military had no trouble keeping up with recruitment levels. Why is that?
Military recruitment is “down” in all branches (with the usual exception of the Marine Corps) because of a number of factors endemic to the Clinton administration — the least of which is “The Good Economy.”
Young people are infinitely more selfish today than in decades past because there is no national drive to ignite interest in a military career and too much emphasis on immediate personal gratification. When you have a president (who is the commander in chief, by the way) who gets sex in the Oval Office, it’s pretty hard to convince impressionable youth that the needs of others (the nation) should come before their own needs or desires.
Furthermore, not only are you painted as an extremist if you claim to be “patriotic” but overall the youngest generation becoming eligible to serve isn’t interested because nobody’s selling them on the importance (and benefits to the nation) of military service. Thank the Clinton spin team for that, too.
Also, the Clinton administration has done everything in its power to politicize and feminize the military. It’s no accident that the Marine Corps continues to meet recruitment levels because it is the only branch to still train (and treat) men and women as separate and unequal, with few exceptions.
Even during the Reagan-Bush years, the U.S. military was never as overused as it has been since Clinton-Gore came to power. Using every excuse under the sun (including diverting attention away from various scandals), this criminal president has attacked more helpless countries, deployed forces in more places and engaged in more quagmires than virtually any other president in history. With military life hard enough as it is without these overextended deployments, who in their right mind wants to join up and spend years in some hellhole for no apparent reason other than to satisfy some selfish political gambit?
Then, admittedly, there is the pay thing — with 12,000-plus soldiers, sailors and airmen still qualifying for welfare, there’s little incentive to sign up today.
But hasn’t low pay has always been a problem? Why are more soldiers per capita on welfare during the Clinton administration than during previous administrations? Coincidence?
Throw into this mix Tailgate, reduced budgets, and sex harassment, and you’ve got the recipe to decimate your all-volunteer forces. As a finale, throw in the most crooked commander in chief in U.S. military history, and it’s no wonder nobody wants to sign up to serve Uncle Sam.
“The Good Economy” has little, if anything, to do with our hollow forces. It’s pride, national dignity, honor, and sense of duty lacking these days that keeps America’s youth out of uniform, along with a healthy ration of cynicism caused by criminality, deceit and military abuse at the highest levels of this government.
If Gore is elected in November, expect it to get worse; “Mr. Vietnam Reporter” is doing everything now to showcase his “qualifications” as commander in chief but his hypocrisy will only leave a more bitter taste in the mouths of potential recruits.
I remember when Ronald Reagan was commander in chief. Americans took pride in their military because Reagan took pride in it. He spent lots of money building it back up after it was hollowed out by post-Vietnam presidents, I’ll agree — but the effort paid off because it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and a resounding Gulf War victory. These days the experts say we couldn’t duplicate the Gulf War deployment if our lives depended on it — all the while praying to God our lives don’t depend on it anytime soon.
When Reagan used the military (Iran, Grenada) he sent it in, ordered commanders to get the job done, then took the military back out. Bush wasn’t quite as adept at this (Iraq), but he too had a penchant for getting in and getting out (Panama).
Clinton and Gore have gotten us in to many places — where we’ve ended up staying for years. Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti and a hundred other places come to mind.
Meanwhile, the expense of these operations have depleted Pentagon accounts to the point where soldier’s pay is falling along with maintenance, research, development and new acquisitions. And all of this with 250 ships, 10 fighter wings, and 8 infantry divisions less than Reagan and Bush fielded.
Some bargain, eh? The budget hasn’t gone down, mind you — just the quality of our force.
If we’re going to talk about why the U.S. military is sucking wind trying to keep up with congressionally mandated recruitment levels, fine. But let’s not lie about it: “It’s (not) the economy, stupid.”
