Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
What I am blaming the leadership today for is the same thing that I blamed the leadership for in Vietnam - the leadership's concept that you can have a serious long-term war while everyone at home goes on with life as though no war exists ("guns and butter" in my dads's words).
I think you're half right. The Vietnam era civilian leadership definitely didn't fight to win the war. Johnson didn't want to redirect resources from the so called "Great Society." I think the book "On Strategy" by Ltc. Summers covered this in detail.

However, as for the non-war fighting pubic, I think they were too involved in the war. Because the middle class and elite kids were not sent to war, they felt guilty. Because of this they were swept away by the anti-war movement. If all the kids had went, the guilt wouldn't have existed. The Red Diaper Babies on campus would have been beaten like dogs, and the ROTC would have never been burnt down.

The American people can't handle the realities of war. They should be insulated from it as much as possible. However, the men and women who do fight should be taken care of above anyone in this country. If there's one group of people who truly are "entitled" in this country, its the warfighters and their families. For the rest of the population its bread and circuses (or beer and football).

The only contribution that should be taken from the non-war fighting public is their taxes. You can't have "tax breaks" while we fight a war. Nothing is more annoying than hearing some "Conservative" on TV talking about how "we're in a fight for civilization" and then go on in the next sentence about "tax cuts." If we're really in a fight for "civilization" then I think maybe we can raise taxes? We should at least raise taxes on the top 2-5%. If the working and middle classes can fight America's wars, then I think the upper classes can pay for them?

Here's a summery.

The American people should stick to "Dancing with the Stars" and Happy Meals and think about war as little as possible. It really shouldn't be a problem that our civilian leadership never served, but they must never be involved in planning or carrying out combat operations (e.g., Kissinger in Vietnam). The working and middle classes will fight the wars, so the top 5% should pay for them.