Sunday, October 21, 2012

George McGovern, R.I.P.



Former Democratic Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern died today. He was characterized in 1972 as the candidate of "Acid, Amnesty, and Abortion", and not altogether unfairly. He was a strong opponent of the Vietnam War, in which he may well have been right, but like most opponents of the war he failed to acknowledge his undeniable contribution the communist holocaust that followed our withdrawal. Sometimes even people who argue for a defensible moral position fail to acknowledge the moral ambiguity of the outcome of their choices.

I was not a supporter of the man, as you may have surmised, but he did have an admirable libertarian streak that got more pronounced as he aged.

He was an honest and decent man, and he served our country with integrity. He meant what he said, and he did his best by his own lights.

Please pray for him, and for his family. 

9 comments:

  1. I voted for him in 1972. I was eighteen. All I cared about was Vietnam and getting out of there.

    JQ

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    1. I voted for Carter in 1976.

      Then I read Ayn Rand, and Reagan came along...

      A common story.

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    2. The first presidential election in which I could vote was 1976. But, could I have voted in 1972, it would not have been for the Democtatic ticket -- while I had no desire to be in the military, and was sure I'd be killed were I drafted, I'd have dutifully gone. It shames me to this day what the US -- what the Democtats, speaking for the US -- did to the people of South Viet Nam.

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    3. To my great shame, I've voted for Democrats twice in my life (once for him and once for him). But, in my defence, I was young and stupid.

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    4. ... and the Democratic Party hadn't yet become such obvious mere sock-puppets for the leftists.

      These days, I wouldn't vote for a Democrat for dog-catcher. The way I look at it, given what the Democratic Party is, mere membership in it is proof enough that a person is immoral.

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    5. Ilion:

      My feelings exactly. I was a Democrat until my mid-20's, and Democrats back then were bad, but not as bad as they are now. The hard Left infested the party in 1972, and have destroyed what trace of integrity it ever had.

      I agree about not voting Democrat. Not even dog-catcher. While I personally know many very nice decent people who are Democrats, I believe that a vote for that party now is immoral.

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  2. "He was a strong opponent of the Vietnam War, in which he may well have been right, ..."

    As with Korea, the government’s goal – and may I remind the reader just *which* party was running the government, in both cases – was not to win the wars, but was, rather, to expend American lives in pursuit of some other goal.

    Though, looked at in another way, both Korea and Viet Nam were not so much separate wars as that they were battles in, or distinct phases of, the wider war against communism -- which we won in the end, despite all the long-term treachery and treason amongst our own “leaders”.


    "... but like most opponents of the war he failed to acknowledge his undeniable contribution the communist holocaust that followed our withdrawal."

    That’s the important part.

    I once saw a quote of Bette Midler in which she seemed to express a bit of realization and responsibility. But, of course, she’s still a “liberal”, and will still march off any moral cliff when the drums start beating.

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    1. Good points. Our fight against communism in Vietnam was obviously completely morally justified. The only question is tactical-- was it wise to fight it, was it fought wisely, and did it justify the lives of 50,000 of our brothers. Perhaps, perhaps not.

      The refusal of most of the anti-war movement-- even those who were not actual traitors, as many were-- to acknowledge their complicity in the communist holocaust that followed our withdrawal is damning.

      When I was in medical school in the 1980's, Dr. Benjamin Spock came to our class to talk about stuff, including his "courage" in opposing Vietnam. I wanted to puke. I stood up in class and asked him how he felt about his personal responsibility for the boat people, the Killing Fields in neighboring Cambodia, and the gulag he helped to build with his insistence that we abandon the Vietnamese people to communism.

      He mumbled a platitude, and went on the the next questioner.

      Coward.

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    2. "Our fight against communism in Vietnam was obviously completely morally justified. The only question is tactical-- was it wise to fight it, was it fought wisely, and did it justify the lives of 50,000 of our brothers. Perhaps, perhaps not."

      Since the government was not even attempting to win the war, it was, by definition, throwing away American lives.

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