There is a very short list of Presidents that did not serve in the military: Obama, Clinton, F.D. Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, Wilson, Taft, Cleveland, van Buren, J.Q. Adams, and Adams. What counts as service is really wide open these days. Most President only served in the reserve or National Guard. G.W. Bush, G.H.W. Bush, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, and Johnson all served in the reserves. Arthur, Lincoln, Buchanan, Polk, Madison and Jefferson only served in militias. Almost none of these Presidents ever saw a single day in combat, were deployed to support any real-world operation, or did more than push paper and train. On this list, only James Buchanan, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, and George H.W. Bush saw combat; Buchanan fought in 1812, and the rest in WWII. In WWII about 12% of the total population (about 25% of the pre-war male population) served in the military. Today, less than 0.5% of the population serve. The only Presidential candidates that had Vietnam era service (of which I am aware) were John McCain and John Kerry. McCain consistently votes against general citizens and workers rights, and any improvement to the quality of life or the fair administration of military justice. He has a mixed record with Veteran issues, which is not surprising since most veterans alive today are still from WWII and a major portion of his voting base. Nonetheless, he voted against the overhaul of the GI Bill, and he is in favor of military pay, benefits, and retirement cuts. In fact, in his entire political career he has systematically voted against the interests of service members far more than he has voted for them. Kerry votes against every military anything, regardless of the circumstances. They are both far more decorated combat veterans than anyone likely to read or respond to this thread. They both have Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, and Sliver Stars (although both are really suspect as the circumstances under which they received them are less than ideal--they were both born with silver spoons). Its all great to think that something like military service would be a good indication of the quality of the person. The real world doesnt work that way. It doesnt matter if they did their token tour in the back lines or not, the problem with politicians is that they are the type of people that would run for political offices. We used to have school teachers, college professors/presidents, ranchers, farmers, journalists, editors, engineers, and generals (often times multiple major professions in the same President), but the number one pre-presidential profession in modern times has been lawyer, and the number two has been oil executive and/or corporate representative/spokesperson. It is not that military service is what makes great people, but that law degrees and oil companies make shitty presidents (and politicians in general).
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 23:27:30 +0000
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