Why don't the rich send their kids to fight the war?

A momemt of reasonability...I'm framing this.

 

Well ‘Chance’ there is hope for you yet


Hotwater

 

War never solved anything. Except slavery, genocide, nazism and fascism

 

could we possibly be just a touch more redundant? and really, i don't believe any of those problems have ever been solved. the venue and attendance simply change.

and the elite don't go to fight these things for themselves, because that is why we exist, right? all us dumbed down obedient expendable workers :\

 

That was from a bumper sticker, and of course it was redundant. Slavery hasn't been solved?

 

cool shit thought you were a little misinformed there

 

Is that Marxist?


Who are you personally defining as "elite"? The rich? Those in power?
Why should they go fight?
There is perhaps a disproportionate amount of "normal" people In the military, but all social and economic "classes" CAN be found.

 

The Civil War wasn't over slavery; genocide is still going on (we only care when there's something in it for us); Nazism and fascism were the result of a war (WWI).

I'm just saying, chicken or the egg?

 

While it's true there were numerous economic and cultural factors that lead to the civil war, the fact is slavery was the biggest of them all.

 

What I'm saying is is that it's more complicated than that...you have to take into account how much fighting causes these problems to begin with. Hell...I'd go so far as to say that slavery in the first place constitutes a war. If those people had the means to fight back, I'm pretty sure they would have.

 

Sir,... One has to admit that its a fairly objective measurement of sorts. innit? Would that GWB be in the White House its would be acclaimed as a huge success.......Barack seems of diferent charachter to assume any credit for this benchmark............The Dow says nothing about ones spiritual or intelectual concerns tho. Would life be so easily charactized as a mere number or equation......like a Sunday Footbal score......Were it that all of our aspirations in life were as easily measured as is, The Dow.

 

elite, as in top of the corporate food chain or politicians and their families. and why should they go fight? because it isn't my problem, and i have no desire to act as some sort of enforcer for the power-don. woohoo! operation imposing freedom!

sound kinda marxist, huh?

 

So business people should quit running legitimate companies and "go join up"?
Who runs those companies instead?
Who would take the place of politicians?
Why should their families "go join up"? Isn't that a little fascist?
It isn't your problem, I can appreciate that, but you are not over there risking your life...people that DO think it is there problem, are.
If you mean the US when you say "i have no desire to act as some sort of enforcer for the power-don"...then that's fair enough, but it doesn't have relevance when the countries involved pretty much want us there.

Never mind...it was a bad joke.

 

i feel comfortable in saying that the countries the US occupies DO NOT want us there. not based on first hand experience, but because i have several friends in the military who are currently stationed in iraq. according to them, the coalition is unwanted.

as far as the politicians and CEOs, if they want the resources so bad, they can go take the on their own time. say bobby had some ice cream that you wanted. so you send jimmy over to go snatch for you, instead of goin for yourself. kinda tha same situation, atleast that's my take on it.

and fascism? that's the new american way. has been for some time. of course, you can dismiss the link i am going to post... call me a conspiracy freak... whatever you want to do.
http://rationalrevolution.net/articles/rise_of_american_fascism.htm

 

I wouldn't dare say 100% of the people want us there.
Conversely I wouldn't dare say 100% don't want us there.
If my country was "Invaded" I'd want them out after they had been there so long.
I'm really talking about the political "elite" and the Iraq/Afghan military etc.
Public opinion is important, I appreciate that. But it is fickle.

Oh, I see...you're thinking it is a grab for resources etc. Fair enough.
I can see why you may want the "elite" over there then.
It's a matter of opinion if that IS what we are out there for, however.
Personally I don't agree with that...
Perhaps ask you friends about the other work they do aside from killing insurgents.

I was really talking about your insistence that politicians families should "go join up"...that's not really how things work...and quite rightly so.
It was an interesting if perhaps flawed link...thanks for posting it.

 

appreciate you taking the time to read through that rather lengthy site. and i definitely agree that these things are subjective. also, other than being shot at, my friends say (mostly) iraq is rather like a vacation... just with IED's and angry fanatics.

 

No worries.

I'll draw some positivity from that.

 

Who exactly wants us there?

What is that other work?

Why is that rightly so? Shouldn't those that vote for the wars send their children off to fight them? Or is it the role of the poor to fight the wars of the rich? While the rich kids attend prep school and join fraternities on college campuses?

 

This poor vs. rich argument would be more meaningful if there were some data about how the income level of enlistees (or their parents) compare with the general population.

It might be interesting to look at the options presented to rich kids vs. poor kids.

Do rich kids that enlist bypass better options than poor kids that enlist? (My guess is "probably"; part of why people get rich is to give their kids more and better options.)

If they do, does that imply that rich enlistees care more about their country than poor enlistees?

 

Would be neat to study demographics too.

Like say, what's the enlistment rate of an old steelmill town compared to New York city. I would be interested in looking at the hot spots and cold spots.