Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnM
Well, I think I can see where the Marines are coming from on this one. There are 40,000 'green card' members of America's Armed Forces, about 2% of active service members, with a third of those being legal Hispanic immigrants. In an area with a high immigrant population, why not advertise military service to new residents? Its honorable work, good pay & benefits, a chance to advance their education and puts them on a fast track for full citizenship. Not a bad deal for young person new to the country.
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I don't disagree with you, John - except, of course, the center, most prominently displayed figure of the four was the tall, blonde swimmer's build Caucasian male - but the implication, at least to me (and Bill... both of us count
Starship as one of our favorite films) is that enlistment in the Armed Forces is a requirement of citizenship - even to those born in the country. Obviously, it's not.
But something all administrations have done, at least since I've been alive, is to infer to the population that something else is required to be a "true American" other than to simply be a legal resident of the United States. I realize some of the younger people who voted for the first time in the last cycle - or will be voting for the first time in this cycle - are unaware that the same line touted by the current Administration of negative comments about the Administration is tantamount to treason was also used by Johnson and Nixon during the Viet Nam war. For all I know, variants of the same lines were used during the Korea conflict, as well as WW II and WW I. And, like Bush, both Nixon and Johnson attempted to enshrine into law, at various times, that belief - speaking out against the President, during a time of war, would, simply, be illegal.
The difference, of course, is that those other Administrations weren't openly "eavesdropping" on private communications between individuals. Nixon had people investigated by the FBI on whims; he also had his "Enemies list." And wiretapped phones... but didn't throw out a blanket to, potentially, reel in every American's phone conversations and mail - both of snail- and e- variety. This one has.
Two years ago, I made a prediction from which I've still not completely backed down, though I admit the approval numbers for Bush and Company now make such a scenario much more unlikely: I predicted there would be some type of "terrorist attack" between August and October of this year, which would enable the President to declare martial law (temporarily, of course) and suspend the General Elections in November.