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The Nation's Pulse
The Military to the Rescue…Again
Where would the Big Government Left be without it?
Its official: the Gulf Oil Spill is now a crisis. Or to put a finer point on it: the government’s response to it is officially a crisis. How can you tell? The President recently pledged to send in the military. For the federal government, that is the ultimate expression of seriousness. For the Left it is an intimate admission of defeat.
It is difficult for anything in government to be truly a crisis until the military is called in. To most everyone not in the federal government, the oil spill was a crisis from Day One. In a recent CNN/Opinion Research poll, 74% of respondents said they disapproved of the way the federal government was handling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Of the 25% who approved, you can bet none of them lived around the Gulf.
For the Left, such need for military assistance is doubly galling.
For one thing, liberals want government doing more. So episodes in which the government is unable to do something is bad for the business of bigger government. It is hard to convince the country you need a bigger government when what apparently is really needed is a bigger military.
For another thing, America’s Left has always had a problem embracing the military. There is a noticeable liberal discomfort with it. In this, they have little in common with its foreign brethren.
Abroad, the Left has taken to the military with gusto. Mao sported a PLA uniform to the grave. At one time, it was probably the most widely worn apparel in the world — thanks to China’s large population and the Communist Party’s rigid orthodoxy, not to its sartorial styling.
In the USSR, the military was the communist government’s last vestige of respectability. Whatever else did not work in the state — i.e., everything else — its military had defeated Germany and saved the Motherland. When it failed in Afghanistan, the party collapsed at home, devoid of all legitimacy.
And to a second generation of “fellow travelers,” a wispy whiskered Che in a military beret has become a global icon.
Back here in America though, the federal government’s calling in of the military is an admission that the government apparatus to be “aided” is not up to snuff.
That such an admission must be made from time to time should not be surprising. Government’s real competency is in telling others to do things — not in doing those things themselves. So when things need to be done faster than the government can tell others to do them, the military is summoned.
And thank goodness they are. The problem for the military is that it therefore gets many jobs that are not its to do. What does the military know about oil spills? Apparently, more than anyone else in government.
Nation-building? Call the military. Of course, the military’s job is precisely the opposite. Or at least it used to be. You would think the Peace Corps might get that nation-building call — at least based on its name — but no. The folks in uniform are called in to do the thing that diplomats, people trained in negotiating, cannot do.
Illegal immigration? Call the military. To the military, securing the borders once meant actually repelling armed intrusions. The federal government has both a Customs and Border Patrol and an Immigration and Naturalization Service. But the border has become the military’s job as well.
Natural disaster? Again, call the military. Sure there is a Federal Emergency Management Agency, but first let the military make a natural disaster less of, well…a disaster. Then call FEMA.
The military does not get all these jobs just because it is big. The U.S. Postal Service is big — it is widely dispersed, and its personnel wear uniforms too — but no one considers calling them to clean up oil. The military gets them because it is a bastion of Can-Do competency within a vast wilderness of Tell-Others bureaucracy. It actually gets things done.
It is said when the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem becomes a nail. The military must be feeling a lot like that hammer right now. You could not blame them. With all these unrelated tasks being thrust on them, people in the Pentagon must be feeling like they were suckered into more than a name change in the late 1940s when they ceased being called the Department of War.
The Gulf Oil Spill makes for the latest wedding of the strangest recurring marriage since Liz and Dick. The military, which is more accustomed to accepting the surrender of foreign governments, is increasingly accepting that of its own. The Left, which is unwilling to devolve any function from government, is only prevented from admitting it is needed by the one aspect of government it is loath to embrace.
About the Author
J.T. Young served in the Department of Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget from 2001 to 2004 and as a Congressional staff member from 1987 to 2000.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (30) | Leave a comment
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Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 6.30.10 @ 7:38AM
The Military can respond to anything, Oil Spills, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Illegal-Drug Running Welfare Collecting Anchor Baby Delivering Job Stealing-Immigration, Inner City Riots (Detroit), and every now and again a little War Fighting too (if they take the handcuffs off us first). Not too bad for a bunch of, how did John Kerry refer to us? Oh yeah!! "You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq." Was that a personal shot at me Senator? I've been to Iraq three times now, so I guess I'm "stuck" on stupid!! But that's alright Senator, we're not serving for you, we're serving for our Country. Now the only thing that concerns me about sending the Military to the Gulf (again) is, that during this period of high unemployment, wouldn't these cleanup jobs be better to give out to people who are out of work? The Military is fully employed already, and we're not actually looking for a job. But whatever, we'll do the cleanup too, if the orders come down, because that's what we do. Blood out of a stone!!
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.30.10 @ 11:29AM
LLL
I hold you guys up to God every single day.
PS: I just finished the newest book by Harold Coyle
WOW!
IMKessel| 6.30.10 @ 3:16PM
LLL,
Once again, great post.
From one proud veteran to another, we'll be wearing cold weather training gear in hell before The Left ever admits we are more than "the last resort" or "muscle." They have no conception of honor or a higher calling, so they cannot understand why we fight.
Clinton nee Publius | 6.30.10 @ 4:44PM
Thank you for your commitment and your courageous sacrifices. May the blessings of liberty, happiness and prosperity be the constant companions of your life and family forever more.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 5:07PM
I just love you, SGT. LLL's.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 6.30.10 @ 6:01PM
Thanks Everyone for the kind words!! By the way Margie, I'm heading your way tonight on my way up to New York, I'm looking forward to seeing my first Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey sign. I might even take a picture of it as I'm passing it by on the Parkway. I have Tee times tomorrow afternoon in the Bronx (yes, they have Golf courses in the Bronx), at the course I learned how to play the game. So I'll honk the horn when I'm passing you by, just one question then, what exit? Ha, ha!! I love Jersey!!
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 6:36PM
LLL's~ Exit 148. I'll be listening for your horn, thanks! Hey, if you want to meet at a diner on your way just e mail me at~ wehavetoomuchstuff@gmail.com. Not kidding, that's one of my e mail's. Anybody can say hello if they want to. Hubby & me would be glad to meet you, and buy you lunch or dinner!
In the meantime stay safe, good soldier, and happy golfing!
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 6.30.10 @ 8:07PM
Margie: I'll make sure I don't throw my cigarette butts out the window between Exit 147-149. Okay? Keep the Garden State clean!! Check your Gmail, I sent a little note to you just a few minutes back.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 9:06PM
You're a real gem, kiddo. Got the G mail from the G.I.
But you better watch out for those State Troopers on the GSP. Too bad I didn't know you earlier. If my Father had more PBA cards, I'd could have gotten you one. I call them get out of jail free cards. Although I never had to use it cause I'm an excellent driver. Well, I just never got caught.
Alan Brooks| 6.30.10 @ 8:59PM
But don't glorify the military, it's nothing to proud of. Don't make a virtue of necessity.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 9:07PM
Oh, Alan.
Alan Brooks| 6.30.10 @ 9:32PM
Next time there is a big war in the Mideast, you might change your mind, Marge. And if it is the Big One, then you'd better hope there is an internet in Heaven-- otherwise you wont be able to blog at AS anymore.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 10:35PM
None of us want war, but we can be darn proud of our Military. Remember.. "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friends." Jn. 15:13.
I say let's glorify them, they deserve it.
As for the internet in Heaven? "I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." 1 Cor. 15:50.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 10:36PM
oops. Should be .."for his friends", above.
Greg| 6.30.10 @ 8:52AM
Expect people to work for their money?!?! Now what kind of an example would that be?
Alan Brooks| 6.30.10 @ 10:11PM
There ought to be a law against it, Greg.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 10:23PM
Actually Alan, now that you bring it up, under Obama and because of his destroying of private sector jobs it's in effect doing that very thing. It's like he's making it illegal to have a job, unless it's a gov. job. The object is for everybody to be a civil servant. It's insane.
Gerard Bendiks| 7.4.10 @ 11:43AM
There is more than one law against it, ie. working for pay. Indeed, there are many laws against it and many more indirectly against it. It's what minimum wage laws, licensing/occupational laws, zoning, the central bank's policy of inflation/credit expansion, capital gains taxes, income taxes, duties, tariffs, etc are.
Clinton nee Publius | 6.30.10 @ 4:52PM
The reality is that liberalism is not sustainable policy. A system based upon the central premise of creating economic prosperity by stealing money from "rich" people and giving it to the people who support the liberal corruption scheme is not a self-sustaining economic policy. No matter what they call it (and they have to change the names constantly to keep from being immediately exposed as frauds), eventually people figure out that stealing money is not an economic system. Sooner or later everything crashes as a result and the military is required to put down the revolt, quell the violence that erupts when the other co-conspirators no longer get "their cut" of the spoils and everyone realizes the people retained by government are useless scalawags who know nothing more about doing the job at hand than you do, but they are getting "their cut" of the people's money the government steals.
The military is different. It has to function on a self-sufficient basis in times of war, so the military has to have people with real competency to perform their tasks. This is why the military is always the "go-to" agency of government; the other agencies just function to get their share of the resources.
MAJ Mike| 6.30.10 @ 5:07PM
And yet, Barney Frank's "Sustainable Defense Task Force" has advocated cutting over $1 trillion from the DOD over the next decade. I guess he didn't get the memo that we are the last resort when the rest of the government fails.
Rudyard Kipling said it best:
Makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you when you sleep,
is cheaper than them uniforms and they're starvation cheap.
Kylie Estwick| 6.30.10 @ 10:28PM
Wow...a column completely without basis in reality.
Just in case you missed it, it was your boy Jindal who has been screaming for the military.
maverick muse| 7.1.10 @ 8:59AM
J.T.Young, excellent article.
Recognizing ALL of the Presidents' orders for our military to accomplish, proof of our military's honor and love of country is that ours has never attempted a coup.
Historically, however, MacArthur and Patton (WWII larger than life personalities) responded to Hoover's 1932 orders to disperse veterans demanding their immediate WWI pay during the Depression (Bonus Army). MacArthur went so far as to disobey Hoover's orders to stop, and instead ordered a second assault outside of Washington DC killing civilians. This unfortunate incident provides precedence for a demagogue potus to apply out of DC context, should the potus order the military to assault US citizens given a decree of martial law for political expediency.
I believe in our military men and women, that their love of country and family finds such a thought abhorrent.
However, I do not have such faith in the hearts and minds of our military brass, their own specialty brand of politician, self invested as they are into their own careers above and beyond all else. Nor do I have any logical reason to invest good faith in the DHS as it now targets veterans and conservatives as "radicals" rather than protecting our nation's borders AND INTERIOR from terrorism assault that includes Mexican drug cartel invasion in Arizona and Texas, not to mention CA and NM. President Obama gives Arizonan Americans no reason to provide him with good faith because he fails to measure up to his own promises, broken at their grievous expense of life and property. AZ National and State Parks are closed, providing illegal alien Mexican drug cartels open corridors through the state. We citizens are expected to be grateful that our tax dollars haven't yet provided paved international highways for criminal enterprises to exploit? Gov. Perry will see to that construction, come hell AND high water.
LLL made an excellent point, that our military has its own work load to accomplish, and though they willingly respond to orders, our nation's unemployed should be able to join a resurrected CCC to accomplish public works projects. America's contemporary problem is that the majority of the population "feels" that they don't "deserve" jobs that require physical exertion where hands actually contact raw natural resources on the job. Nonetheless, there are many blue collar unemployed who would welcome the jobs; but unions conflict with efficiency. "Deserve's got nothing to do with it."
George Will wrote this week an article (Investors' Business Daily) about the McChrystal comparison with MacArthur, noting that McChrystal's military can-do spirit was abused by Obama's can't-do Afghan mission orders for our military to provide ALL THINGS IMAGINABLE for the Afghans.
God Bless America
God Bless our Troops
Americans Uphold Our Constitution
Ted| 7.1.10 @ 12:19PM
There's no Immigration and Naturalization Service anymore. Now there's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These were created from some parts of INS when DHS was created.
uone heating elements | 7.1.10 @ 9:30PM
god bless America
Gerard Bendiks| 7.4.10 @ 11:49AM
"Americans Uphold Our Constitution"
OK, then Step One is to quit voting for Democrips and Rebloodbicans....especially the incumbent varietals. The empirical evidence for such a request is so voluminous that we're drowning in it to the point that most folks can't even see it. How sad...even surreal.