From: rja@mahogany126.cray.com (Russ Anderson)
Subject: Re: Cowards???
Originator: rja@mahogany126
Organization: The 1991 World Champion Minnesota Twins!
Date: 28 Jan 93 12:19:01 CST


In article <9173@news.duke.edu>, eyc@acpub.duke.edu (EMIL CHUCK) writes:
> lafave@ial4.jsc.nasa.gov (Dr. Norman J. LaFave) writes:
> -In article <1993Jan26.234628.12099@irscscm.UUCP> Susan Butler,
> -sbutler@irscscm.UUCP writes:
> => 	The Vietnam Memorial Wall is full of names of people who
> => 	were not COWARDS--and now we have one for our president.
> =Cut me a break! Just because a person felt that the war was wrong,
> =and didn't participate, does not necessarily make them a coward. It
> =could mean that they had strong convictions
> =which would not let them participate in
> =good conscience. It is also a sign of courage when you stand up
> =for your convictions no matter the cost to your reputation.
> 
> I beg to differ with the person you support. First, his words...
> 
> "Because of my opposition to the draft and the war, I am in
> great sympathy with those who are not willing to fight, kill, and
> maybe die for their country (i.e. the particular policy of a
> particular government) right or wrong. Two of my friends at Oxford
> are conscientious objectors. I wrote a letter of recommendation
> for one of them to his Mississippi draft board, a letter which I
> am more proud of than anything else I wrote at Oxford last year.
> One of my roommates is a draft resister who is possibly under
> indictment and may never be able to go home again. He is one of
> the bravest, best men I know. His country needs men like him more
> than they know. That he is considered a criminal is an obscenity.
> 
> The decision not to be a resister and the related subsequent
> decisions were the most difficult of my life. I decided to accept
> the draft in spite of my beliefs for one reason: to maintain my
> political viability within the system. For years I have worked to
> prepare myself for a political life characterized by both
> practical political ability and concern for rapid social progress.
> It is a life I still feel compelled to try to lead. I do not think
> our system of government is by definition corrupt, however
> dangerous and inadequate it has been in recent years. (The society
> may be corrupt, but that is not the same thing, and if that is
> true we are all finished anyway.)"
> 	Bill Clinton's letter to Col. Holmes Dec 03 69
> 
> 	First off, there was no cost for him or his reputation.

The cost was the possiblility of getting a low lottery number,
being drafted, and going to Vietnam.
>                                                                 His
> motivation was to maintain his political viability. There was no risk
> for his life,

Unless he got a low lottery number...

>                 and he signed a letter of intent in contradiction to his
> own feelings for the situation. I assume if he felt so passionately for
> his cause that he would not have compromised his convictions just to
> "maintain political viability."
> 
> 	Remember this was not a dilemma that came upon him immediately.
> Earlier in the letter, Clinton himself states that he 
> 
> "worked for two
> years in a very minor position on the Senate Foreign Relations
> Committee. I did it for the experience and the salary but also for the
> opportunity, however small, of working every day against a war I opposed
> and despised with a depth of feeling I had reserved solely
> for racism in America before Vietnam. I did not take the matter
> lightly but studied it carefully, and there was a time when not
> many people had more information about Vietnam at hand than I did."
> 
> among other activities in which he was involved that demonstrated (sorry
> about the pun) his disapproval for American policy in Vietnam. He
> concludes that "From my work I came to believe that the draft system
> itself is illegitimate" at least for this circumstance. Clinton's
> conscientious stance in this letter, however, says, he went ahead and
> made himself eligible for the draft (to become a broken record) to
> "maintain his political viability."
> 
> I wish I could see the courage you said Clinton had here.

So what did you do during the war?  I think that is a factor on
what you "see" in Clinton's actions.

-- 
Russ Anderson    |  Disclaimer: Any statements are my own and do not reflect
------------------              upon my employer or anyone else.  (c) 1992
EX-Twins' Jack Morris, 10 innings pitched, 0 runs (World Series MVP!)