Supporting our troops (but not the war)

[progressivegunowner]

I have done some thinking about the way the Republican Party has come to define the term, "Support our troops" as supporting the war in Iraq, and anybody who doesn't support this war cannot possibly support out troops.

I think it is time something is done about this grave misuse of our language. The Democratic Party needs to take this term and use in its proper context, that of simply showing support for our loyal members of the armed services (WITHOUT showing support for the war). What's that mean? It means that even as we raise hell about the war in Iraq, and hold Bush accountable for his illegal and unjustifiable war, we should also be sending letters of support and care packages to our men and women in the Middle East. It means that we need to pass legislation in Congress that will allow members of soldiers' families that are aware that their son (or daughter) doesn't have body armor to send them body armor, even if it substandard, because a little protection is better than none at all. It means that we need to support better health care for our veterans, and better wages for our soldiers who are on the ground. NONE of this has Bush been willing to do, though he has been willing to use these young men and women as cannon fodder to take over the second leading oil producer in the world and take revenge on Saddam. He has used his lies as smokescreens to divert the truth, by trying to blame 9-11 on Saddam, and then trying to paint him as a threat to America with WMD (none of which were found).

So now it is our job to expose his lies, and Bush's distinct unwillingness to support our troops, while passing legislation and taking action that truly DOES support our troops. Any thoughts on this?

Also, I am in the Northern Kentucky area, and anybody who would be interested in helping me organize this, and possibly (hopefully) getting sponsors from Democracy for America and other Democratic groups and campaigns, is welcome to comment, or to email me. I will be attending an event at the Cold Spring Kroger on Saturday at noon, and I would really like to get into discussing methods and such then, but in the meantime, I want to learn how I can do this. I think it would be very beneficial to the Democratic party to take this weapon away from the neocons.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Not one Soldier has died in Iraq

because of any efforts put forth by liberals in this country the past four years. But thanks to "conservative" support they are being slaughtered on a daily basis because "conservatives" are too proud to admit they were wrong and in ever dwindling numbers continue to enable bush to lie, obfuscate, and be a totally inept commander in chief.

I intensely sympathize with our troops because "conservatives" so intensely "support" them.

And just how do our troops benefit from "conservative" support? Please lurkers jump right in .

[progressivegunowner]

2. That is precisely the point

And that is why we, as progressive Democrats, need to organize to really and truly support our troops. The conservatives have made supporting our troops inseperable from supporting the war in Iraq, and that is a blatent misuse of language to deceive America. We need to campaign to actually support our troops, and not only make it public what we are doing, but also make it public what the conservatives are doing (or not doing) that goes AGAINST their claims that they support our troops. We need to take this term, and not only seperate it from supporting the war in Iraq, but take it and use it so that eventually, supporting the war in Iraq is impossible if one supports our troops. This is something that needs to be done in order to start the ball rolling in the right direction.