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Fraggin'

By Bill Shunas

When I was drafted back in 1967, I appealed on the grounds that I had a bad knee. That kept me out of the Army for about a year. But, eventually the draft board called be back. "Squat," they said. I squatted. "go to the next station," they said. I went to the next station. About ten hours later I was getting my head shaved in a barber shop in Fort Leonard Wood.

I didn't pursue my efforts to get out of the Army too hard because I thought it was cool to stop the red horde in Vietnam. I didn't want to get shot at, but what the hell, someone honorably and all that crap that means a lot to civilian warmakers and Vietnam Veterans who look back through the dim light of history and declare that the war was good.

By the time I finished my tour in Vietnam, I felt stupid. Them anti-war protesters had been right. I can't find fault with someone like Bill Clinton for finding the way to keep out of the draft. While I was stupid, Clinton was smart. And he did it honorably too. Me, and hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of others didn't want to go because we wanted to live long enough to lose our hair and develop arthritis. I say that Clinton acted honorably back them because his actions suggested more than a simple matter of saving his own skin like the rest of us. He protested and led protests against a war he believed wrong and which was wrong.

To oppose a war does not necessarily mean that you oppose the soldier in that war. It should mean that you oppose the politicians who start and continue the war and maybe the conduct of the general staff which carries out the war. It is not mutually exclusive that a person such as Clinton could have opposed the Vietnam War and still have feelings of empathy for veterans of that war, respect for the war's dead and sorrow for families of the dead. It was perfectly appropriate that he pay his respects at The Wall last Memorial Day. Yes, there was a problem that the wealthy and well-educated got out of Vietnam, but that's another issue. It was right that Clinton, the man, and Clinton the President, should pay his respects. Those who booed him at the Wall showed disrespect for the dead and are guilty of the political opportunism of which they accuse him.

Now that I've spent four paragraphs defending a sitting President, it's time that I do an about face. From my observations of Bill Clinton's first year as President, his opposition for the Vietnam War two decades ago could have been the last honorable thing he did.

Back then I was stupid. Clinton was smart. But time marches on, and now there's been a role reversal. Where does one begin in analyzing Clinton's first years as President? How about the wishy-washy way he defends the appointments he makes when they face Senate approval? Or how about the way he caves in on the election promises he made when he faces opposition from Washington's power brokers? Or how about the way he sold out the poor and working people with the North American Free Trade Agreement? Maybe his opponents were right. He would have served in the Military. If it didn't kill him, it might have given him the backbone to fight for some of those good programs he promised to implement.

"It's the economy, stupid," That was supposed to be Clinton's campaign strategy when he ran for President. Now, after a year, we can see where his politics are headed. And guess what? It's the economy, stupid. Mr. Wishy-Washy was afraid of the third party twit, so he attacked the deficit. The "attack the deficit" people have turned their policy into the religion of the 90's. Clinton goes right along with them. These are the people who are coming up with new and innovative ways to squeeze the poor and the middle class.

They now have some vague theory (or sales pitch) that eliminating the deficit will lead to lower interest rates which will mean that the wealthy will start investing. In reality, the wealthy have never invested just because they had money. They invest when they think people will buy something. People aren't going to buy anything unless they have the money.

Therefore, the only hope for this sinking ship is to use government money to stimulate the economy and put more money in the hands of the poor, so they can buy things. While we are waiting for the economy to pick up form this increased consumer spending, a lot of people can start having a decent life.

Speak of humane. The President who humanely opposed the war in Vietnam sent twenty-three cruise missiles into downtown Baghdad. Of course, the missiles were super accurate and very 'smart' thought they were intelligent enough to avoid civilians? Maybe it was worth it to him anyway. Clinton's low popularity in the polls immediately rose eleven percent. Now maybe he won't be booed the next time he visits the Wall. Things change a lot in twenty years, don't they?