Leftist Writer - "Troops Don't Protect Our Freedoms"

This is by no means a new thing, but the details of the writer's arguments do warrant refutations.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/11/writer-wants-you-to-stop-thanking-the-troops-for-him-they-dont-protect-our-freedoms/

Liberals and other Leftists have long had a bone to pick with our military. As an organization that at least still has the underlying foundations of God, patriotism, honor, and - most troublesome of all to radicals, a overwhelming reliance on men, the US military is a body that makes individuals who abandon faith,  honor, love of one's nation, and above all want to fully marginalize men, quite uncomfortable to say the least.

From my viewpoint, I have also noted with dismay that all too many Americans who fear the onset of totalitarianism but have themselves been unwilling to join the struggle have come to place their hopes in the military to save us from being enslaved. "At least we still have the military", when stated in reference to a possible move to prevent a dictatorship of (to borrow a term from the American Legion) "of both the classes and the masses", indicates that the People have lost their way. A "standing army", which was the greatest fear of our founders and framers, has now become is the eyes of the People virtually their sole protector, and that is an abject tragedy for a People born and bred in a culture of Freedom.

This is exactly the opposite of how it is supposed to be. While the military is clearly tasked with suppressing insurrections, its main responsibility in the event of a real break (given that a hypothetical break today would have vast differences from that of the southern states following Lincoln's election)  in our nation would be to ensure that the differences are solved by political means, even if that includes a USSR-style breakup. It is not there to initiate action while the People sit back and do nothing.

As a key part of the oath of enlistment is to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" one would have a hard time arguing that a movement of a large share the People against a government that has itself largely abandoned constitutional principles (with the future looking even more bleak) should be cause for the military to follow orders to assist in suppressing this movement. In such and event, the role of our military would be a negative one -acting as a check on a DHS crackdown and refusing to engage in acts of war against citizens while the "divorce" of the two Americas is carried out (or even with a hypothetical ironing out of our differences).

-On to the article:

"Left-leaning news website Salon.com is under fire for publishing a contributor’s article on Veterans Day that instructed individuals to stop thanking members of the military on his behalf for their service.

The article, titled “Stop thanking the troops for me: No, they don’t ‘protect our freedoms‘” and authored by freelance writer Justin Doolittle, was featured on Salon’s front page Monday and questioned why the media and professional sports are “constantly jamming military fervor down our throats.”

“The ‘freedoms’ most Americans think of when they hear the term are enshrined in constitutional and statutory law,” the article said. “They are in no way dependent on the size, scope or even the existence of the U.S. military.”

[The above leaves the reader wondering if the writer thinks that we do not know the specifics of the wording of the oath of enlistment (excerpt above). You can bet your bottom dollar that he knows, but it appears that he is hoping that you have never been made aware of that to which new recruits swear. Anything that is - in his words, "enshrined in law" has no power unless there is a means to enforce it. Just like municipal laws mean nothing absent local police, sheriffs, other law enforcement or a very active body of citizens, the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution are in fact ultimately protected by our military. That commission was  illustrated as recently as the days when troops were nationalized and ordered to end the restrictions in segregated schools]

“The combination of unanimous, entirely uncritical appreciation for the military, and the irrational belief that we owe gratitude to the troops for virtually everything we cherish in life, up to and including freedom itself, is very dangerous for our intellectual culture,” the article said, adding that if someone “disbanded the entire military, Americans’ ‘freedoms’ would not suddenly vanish.”

[Here the writers engages in an artillery barrage of  implications in the hopes that one will feel helpless. It is the secular equivalent of an Evangelical who, noting that another Christian has strong arguments in support of  his faith, starts with "verse slinging" - a nonstop bombardment of Bible verses cited with no explanation  and without context that is designed to create a facade of strength in one's position. Refuting the writer's patently false uses of words such as "virtually", " irrational", and  "dangerous", along with the clearly false characterizations of attitudes of they who do thank members of our military, would take - like with the Evangelical, far longer than it takes to make the false accusations.  That is precisely why these dishonest cheap shots are used.]

“We need not thank the troops for every breath we take”

[Here the writer steps into a trap of his own making - It is not every breath of air which we tale or which we should be grateful, it is every breath of free air that we take for which we should give thanks. Like the medieval maxim that "Town air makes one free after a year and a day", which meant that a runaway serf could no longer be taken by his lord back to a state of bondage after remaining in a town for a set period, the only reason that the United States was able to enforce the provisions of the Declaration of Independence and by extension actually be able to create a Constitution was the efforts and sacrifices of the Continental Army and the militias of the new states. When one joins the military, he assumes that same obligation to protect the freedoms and liberties of the People. Thus, contrary to the writer's claim, we do owe them a debt of gratitude. We should note that members our our military really don't look for thanks but actually do not want their service denigrated like the writer does]

“We need not thank the troops for every breath we take,” it concluded. “When we do, we reduce our entire existence as free people to something that only exists at the whim of the U.S. military, and suffocate critical thought about the military and what it’s actually doing in the world.

[Here we end by noting that the writer would have done well to engage in some critical thinking about the position that he affects to hold - at least prior to submitting it to the staff at Salon. I guess that the same goes for the editorial staff that chose to publish this piece]