Saturday, July 21, 2007

What Does "Support Our Troops" Mean?


Quote of the day:
“There are probably four objects that people commonly worship as much, or perhaps more, than God: 1) their mothers; 2) their children; 3) the Bible; and 4) the flag.”
--Rev. Clayton Childers

I walked by a house yesterday that had a “Support Our Troops” sign in the yard. It got me to thinking about the meaning of that slogan.

I don’t think it means support our troops. If it does, why would someone put it in on a sign in her yard? Does anyone not support our troops? Who needs convincing?

I think it really means that we need to all agree on our military mission. Or at least present a unified front. The assumption is that, if our troops hear disagreement about their mission, they will be demoralized.

There probably is some truth in that. But that truth needs to be weighed against the essential truth of our nation. That truth is that disagreement is part of our founding. It is a building block of our system and fundamental to our nature.

Indeed, during the Iraq war we’ve heard from many troops who themselves disagree with our mission. Yet they obey orders and do their jobs.

Certainly we should be clear in support of our troops. But why do we need to act as if they don’t understand that the strength and power of America is demonstrated when people are free to openly disagree with our government?

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