South Chicagoland Young Democrats: The Blog

A good chunk of my friends who have graduated high school within the past two years enlisted in some branch of the military. I am incredibly proud to say that I know these people. I, like so many other Americans, also live in daily fear of them getting that call to go to Iraq. These soldiers are eighteen and nineteen years old and are taking the places of the twenty-four and twenty-five year old soldiers being killed.

While I have sympathy for the soldiers who enlisted to help pay for college, and are now fighting for their country and their lives in the Middle East, I have to say, that is what the army does and it is to be expected, especially in such globally turbulent times. Most of the people I know who joined the military did so for just that, college. Some joined because they didn’t see themselves in college and wanted a way out a life working in the Ford factories.

The twenty-something brother of a friend of mine was sent to Iraq on Monday. His deployment made me so sick. He did enlist for college tuition and to do something for his country. But in post-9/11 circumstances, he knew he did not want to go to war. He enlisted in the National Guard. He led tanks into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and now he’s being led into a war zone by a self-righteous President.

The National Guard was formed so that the American people had protection while the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force were in fighting in foreign lands. They are supposed to be here if anything happens to us back home. It disgusts me that they are being sent overseas to war. I don’t support the President’s call for more troops, but if he must send more, send only who is supposed to be sent. Who is protecting us if every member of our military is overseas? Maybe it’s just me, but the National Guard should stay within the nation it is guarding.

Cait Phipps, 1st Vice Pres

The upcoming primary for the presidential election has already sparked two debates for both parties. The Democratic debates were mostly concerned with issues including the war in Iraq, education, and health care. This is really not surprising and none of the candidates really said anything notable. For the most part all of the Democratic candidates agree.

The Republican debates, however, did not really touch on any of these topics except for the war in Iraq. As is the usual tendency with conservatives in the country in recent years, the debates both centered around the religious beliefs of the candidates. Every question seems to revolve around each officials religious beliefs or feelings about gays. The biggest topic of discussion yesterday seemed to have been Giuliani’s position on abortion.

I cannot think of any topic less relevant to the well being of this country than abortion and gay marriage. What difference does it make if a politician believes in a woman’s right to choose or if two men can get married. The only thing that I can think of is whether or not he or she believes in God. Frankly, I have had quite enough of God. Religion is a beautiful thing but in the hands of idiots it becomes something terrible. This is truly the case in the world today with everyone killing each other over what to call God or arguing constantly over whether the Bible is literal or figurative. How about for once, for the first time in this millennium, we spend our time worrying about things that are relevant rather than over religion.

From the brilliant mind of Mike Kean, your friendly Sergeant at Arms