More Sanitized War

I am just a little leery of all this talk about going to war. Not for the reason you might think, either. I understand that sometimes a nation needs to take a stand, and put the full resources of the powerful nation that we are behind fighting through to victory, whatever the cost. I get that. I even agree with that.

These days Americans are so comfortable rattling sabers, starting the meme that it might be necessary to put 'boots on the ground' to defend America and punish ISIL for their barbarism. But what they really mean is "let's send somebody else's child or somebody else's spouse" so they can then go on about their daily lives undeterred, uninterrupted, un-inconvenienced.

When men in my father's generation went to war, most every able-bodied man had to go. America as a country sacrificed to support the war effort financially as well as with fighting troops. Going to war meant something to them and to America. And, going to war must not be a sanitized endeavor that doesn't impinge on the daily lives of average people. War is dirty, war is costly. That reality has yet to be impressed upon the American people. The people must not be spared the cost of war, only getting the sanitized version, the feature length movie version with no real blood.

If this country decides to go to war to fight ISIL, every American must know what it is we're getting into; and it shouldn't be left to the young people from families who don't have lobbyists looking to keep them off the battlefield. If we decide to do this, we need to be all in. We need to stop expecting the un-empowered to do our dirty work for us.