At first glance, the politi- cal stances over the war in Iraq may seem very clear. The Republicans want to "stay the course" and the Democrats want to "cut and run."
If only such a serious matter as a war could be summed up into nice little sound bites. The truth is both sides are hurtling toward a path of defeat with little chance of a detour.
The root of the problem lies in the fact that nothing is being asked of 99 percent of this country's citizens. We continue to go about our daily lives and are not asked to give anything of ourselves for the common good of the nation.
I would like to know what many flag-waving Republican fathers would have to say about the war if their college-bound, prom-queen daughters were asked to serve in the Marine Corps.
What would the same gentleman say if he was asked to stop driving his SUV so we can move toward an end to reliance on oil from Saudi Arabia and other nations who funnel our cash to the very extremists we are trying to defeat?
How would the average American respond to the call for a draft so we can get the 500,000 troops that have been needed to secure Iraq since day one? Not to mention the rationing of everything from gas to sugar it might take to support that force.
We don't know the answers to these questions because they haven't been asked by anyone in power from either political side.
It's time for our elected officials to ask something from us. We can't continue to rely on the 1 percent of Americans who make up our armed forces to do all the suffering.
The difference between Iraq being one of our finest hours or darkest disasters lies in the ability of our leaders to ask something from every American.
Philip Morrow
Fredericksburg
Copyright 2009 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
