As our country gears up for a war against Iraq, I have to ask the question: what would this country look like today had more of the young men and women from less advantaged families survived Vietnam to become participants in our political system? How many would now be serving our Congress? Would we have ever seen the likes of the corporate scandals we are witnessing today? Did the voices, the brains, and the hearts that we needed to create the changes crucial to avoiding such scandals in this country die amid their ranks?
The majority of young people that died in that war came from working class families that could not afford college tuition, much less participation in a world of stocks and high finance. College tuition became another form of draft dodging in the sixties, while we lost a lot of bright, loyal, and hard working youth to a misguided foreign policy. We’re about to do it again.
Let’s not also forget that the Wall Street Journal was very supportive of the Vietnam war until the college deferment exemption was eliminated. The very next day the Journal voiced opposition to the war for the very first time. Hindsight is sometimes 20/20.
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