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Send the Children of Politicians to the Front Lines?
In recent speeches, President George Bush has proclaimed his desire to spread the blessings of freedom throughout the world, emphasizing that Americans pursued this objective throughout the 20th century. As he told the National Endowment for Democracy in November: "In the trenches of World War I, through a two-front war in the 1940s, the difficult battles of Korea and Vietnam, and in missions of rescue and liberation on nearly every continent, Americans have amply displayed our willingness to sacrifice for liberty."

Yes, we have, but we have not always been successful -- and our leaders have not always displayed their willingness to sacrifice themselves for liberty. ...

...According to a study by retired University of Texas sociologist Robert Cushing, less populated rural counties in the U.S. are suffering casualties in Iraq at a higher rate than more suburban -- and presumably wealthier -- counties. "In the politically polarized America of today, there are unmistakably two planets," concluded Bill Bishop of the "Austin American-Statesman," who reported Cushing's findings. "There's the planet that watches the war on television and debates the merits of an $87 billion appropriation, and then there's the planet that sends its kids to Afghanistan and Iraq."

That disconnect is beginning to have an effect. "I noticed a long time ago that our policymakers often seem divorced from the men and women who serve in the armed forces," a woman whose brother serves in the Marines wrote in the Washington Post last January. Others with loved ones in the service are even more personal and bitter. "Would Bush be doing this if he were sending his daughters?" asked 22-year old Sally Brown, whose husband is in the Marines, shortly before the invasion of Iraq.

One of the great challenges facing a democracy -- indeed, any society -- is the connection between the military and civilian society. Any sense of inequality and inequity is bound to erode that connection. Thus, an all-volunteer military is the wisest policy. Yet it can best sustain itself when the politicians lead by example. If the political leadership does not demonstrate the courage of its convictions by risking its own flesh and blood, it cannot expect the professionals in the military to do so for long. ...