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The Virtue of Sacrifice

Given the start of the Lenten season, it is particularly appropriate to discuess the virtue of sacrifice. And thinking of that virtue, I could not help but to consider the current national situation in its light. It seems to me that one of the the reasons that the masses of people have been so bamboozled […]

Given the start of the Lenten season, it is particularly appropriate to discuess the virtue of sacrifice. And thinking of that virtue, I could not help but to consider the current national situation in its light. It seems to me that one of the the reasons that the masses of people have been so bamboozled into supporting our war effort is precisely because Bush — practically and rhetorically — has never asked the average citizen to sacrifice anything to the cause. It seems to me that sacrifice has been an aspect of every previous war effort we have undertaken, and that sacrifice has helped the average person become involved in the war, to suffer, a little, it’s necessary evil (though never on the level that our soldiers have suffered, to be sure). This time around, with the exception of the soldiers and their families, the average person has not been asked to take any of this burden of war onto their own shoulders. There have been no repercussions for the average citizen. Bush and his administration has taken particular care, it seems, to indulge this –the rhetoric has always remained, since post-9/11, “Go about your business, we’re only at war.” I find this fact odious, as it widens the already yawning gulf between the average citizen and the center of power. It’s the government that wages war with a handful of the nation’s citizens, it’s not really the nation at war. There is no investment by the masses. They even balk when faced with images of the war. Working at the newspaper [The Roanoke Times], I can tell you that the letters to the editor are constantly decrying the publishing of images of the wounded, of destruction, of the dead. “You never show the good parts of the war!” they say. It seems to me that during a war wherein the average person doesn’t have to ration his food or fuel, doesn’t have to pay a higher task bill, isn’t asked to conserve or cut back in any way, the least amount of resonsibility the citizens can take upon themselves is to come face to face with the decisions that they made, or allowed to be made by the representatives they voted for. This unwillingness to be faced with the consequences of their votes, and the administration’s unwillingness to ask any sacrifice of the nation, is troubling. It would seem to indicate a further entrenchment of the power center as being unrelated to and unconcerned for the governed, as well as illustrating the populations complaceny in getting away with it. So long as the masses are not asked to give anything up, they are happy with letting the government do anything it says is right, as long as it uses the right rhetoric.

In summary, I wonder what kind of reception this war for democracy and
freedom would receive if the government could not finance it with
deficit spending? If your average person had to pay for it out of
their weekly paycheck, would they be so concered about freedom in
Iraq, or anywhere else for that matter? ~Jeremy Holmes

This was an impromptu message sent to me by one of my good friends. I found it thoughtful and incisive enough to let it stand largely on its own. I will simply say that I believe he has gone somewhat deeper into the predicament of a war without sacrifice or any meaningful change on the “home front” than the usual critiques of the administration’s failures in this area, redirecting our gaze back to all of us in the public who, whether by our consent as supporters, our indifference or our failures as opponents, are in many ways the real culprits in allowing the moral horror of this war to continue.

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