Excellent post, xthinker, and I like the clarity of your vision. I am not certain that I do not think your term of service to involve sacrifice, however, since the voluntary participation in a totalitarian system (ie the military) I found to be...bothersome. In this respect it was a relief to get out and know that I was no longer pledged to obey random irrational commands.

I agree that the draft is an abomination.

Jan

Thank you.

I think the sloppiness is intentional. And there is no reason why the word "sacrifice" need be used sloppily. The definition should be fairly straightforward and easy enough even a liberal could understand.

I think the sloppiness is intentional because of the situation I did not address - one where the nation sends its soldiers to a war where they are not defending the liberty of the nation. It is in the state's best interests to keep these terms sloppy and emotional lest it end up with a set of free citizens who make value judgments every time the state wants to go to war. This type of sloppy language allows them to indoctrinate people into being willing to risk their lives for values which, if they were to sit back and reflect rationally, they would not value higher than their own life.

Mark, I adore your blog, sir, and congratulate you on your
clarity of sight and thought!!! . I always get hung up on the
statement, "I would rather die fighting than live as a slave."
I tend to agree, yet living as a slave offers a chance
for escape. . our economy and regulatory cage is a form of
slavery, IMHO, and we are obliged to seek a way to escape
or else we're settling in as slaves for the long haul.

that is the condition which I would rather die fighting
than accept. -- j
.

It's difficult not to have "sloppiness" in emotional terms. It's the nature of language that those words evade strict logical definition, which is why liberal scions put such value in appealing to emotion rather than logic. Given the broad subjective boundaries of terms like "sacrifice" or "hero" (how many times have we seen an athlete called a "hero"?), the audience can read into the word their own idea of what the user means. The sin committed upon the audience thus victimized is to persist in allowing deluded thinking to continue. The words "hope" and "change" have been weapons used on a gullible public by autocrats for the last couple of centuries.

What a fascinating view, and a nifty reply. I call myself a "Randist" or an "Objectivist" when I am not in the Gulch, because it is the shortest way to communicate 'where I am coming from' to a group of people who will almost all disagree with me.

Hmmm...may try, "I am a Satanist." sometime (amongst my liberal friends) just to watch them laugh when I explain.

I wish I spoke Spanish as eloquently as you do English.

Jan

Sloppy use of terms leads to sloppy thinking. It is like the phrase "give back." You can only "give back" if you "took from" and eventually the sloppy use of the words results in you accepting the logical consequences of those words.

When I hear the term "sacrifice" with regard to the military service of myself or others, I don't think those who use the word necessarily mean they think you're doing it for them. The people I've spoken to at some length about this tell me that they think of it as a sacrifice of the personal liberties we're willing to put aside to protect the principles the nation represents. The fact that non-military citizenry benefits from our willingness to incur hardship and risk of life is something they should be grateful for, and most want to recognize that.

An Objectivist is not an uncaring island, and when he does something in his own self interest, he usually tries to make sure that undeserved harm doesn't come to others in the process. It's pretty hard to take a stand for honorable principles and not benefit others, whether they realize it or not.

Great post X. I read the blog and that is an excellent first post, many of the words ring true with me also. I especially liked the paragraph, "So my willingness to risk my life for the principle of liberty was neither sacrifice nor service. I did so for me. I would rather die fighting than live as a slave. And that is true whether or not the rest of you even exist. Furthermore, that commitment did not end when I took off my uniform and any future enemies, either foreign or domestic, would discover this to be the case."

As a veteran myself, Navy, I find that you expressed what I have felt for many years. I thank you for that and thanks, not for your service, but for words to my thoughts.

Well, I´m from Argentina and still I can say Thank You xthinker88. I am opposed to war, but I´m not naive either. It seems to be inevitable really. I can clearly see alot of hipocracy in the US of A as to War and it´s causes, but it´s not the time or the place for that.

Sacrifice is part of life, those who believe they can go without doing so usually depend on someone elses sacrifice, therefore they exploit it. It´s sad that people should have to go off to war, in foreign lands, and sent by others who; believe or not; aren´t the Commander In Chief or any visible figure that will take the fall should things get ugly. Usually, we end up in quarrels that aren´t even ours to begin with, "in the name of Liberty and Justice for All". It used to be "in the Name of God", but after Five Hundred Years we finally put a lid on that (well, most of us anyway).

I cherish Ayn Rand and her vission on things. Especially her attack on mediocrity, which we all share here I suppose. Yet I go further by saying that, appart from an Absolute Truth; there is also an Absolute Evil. And that evil resides in us all, it´s not an entity onto its own. It´s a conflict within that can clearly distort our premises, should we lack a "Moral Compass".

Morality, so to speak; is a rare thing altogether. One might argue that it´s also relative, and depends on our upbringing and culture. For an Islamic Fundamentalist, a suicide bombing is the highest level of dignity in serving Alah. For a Nipon Citizen, suicide is also something similar in order to conserve honor. Yet I believe there is a Higher Moral than that, which goes beyond our own selves.

To me, a Righteous Person is one that builds something; that develops a true contribution to the chain of events that is mankind. Therefore, one could say Einstein, Mozart, da Vinci, Jesus, Aristotle, etc are Moral Beings. Yet Morality can too be misleading, and used to destroy. Those are the other kind of geniuses, such as Hitler, Franco, Constantine, etc.

In conclusion, it is imperative to always think. The more, the better. If you ask me "am I an Objectivist" I´d probably say "I am a Satanist", in the ethymological sense of the word Satan, which doesn´t mean Demon, but Opposer. And, today; the maximum ast of Satantry is to be a Peacefull Man. (sorry for all the mispelled words, I´m bilingual yet I seldom write in english nowadays)

xthinker88, you don't need to apologize to me for my involuntary servitude between 1969 and 1971.
You did not personally do that to me.
To blame some individual, I have Nixon, who with a photo of his smiling face, wrote, "Congratulations, you have been inducted into the armed services."
I did not believe in the domino theory reasoning behind the Vietnam War and neither did my father, who tried to enlist right after Pearly Harbor. The government thought he was more valuable doing something else, which included the production of the Corsair fighter plane.
I was born at the wrong time. 9/.11 was Pearl Harbor enough for me. But I was too old.

I was in from '82 to '86 in the USAF and when I was in, my hope was that when I had kids, they wouldn't have to worry about preparing for a "World War". I was actually hoping that there was little need for much more than alert force. Now that almost 30 years have past, I am still hopeful that we only need minimal military, but also realize that if things really hit the fan, I'd grab my gun in a heartbeat..

We have seen, and are seeing, foreign infiltration, however.

i swore an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies...foreign and domestic...that oath still stands...

True. Although there has not been much of that lately.

i served 9 years in the Air Force as a pilot during the Vietnam War...then 25 years till retirement with American Airlines...

Don't forget, though: the armed services perform one of the three proper functions of government: to protect people from invasion from without.

Politicians always have trouble understanding numbers, one of the failings contributing to their inability to budget. They do not understand how many Vets there are (USMC in my case). Nor do they realize that vets also have friends and family.

In any case its a heck of a lot of people to piss off at once.

Although she should be careful what she wishes for. But we prefer to think of ourselves as freedom fighters

Treatment of Vietnam Vets when they returned was beyond shameful. Lashing out at the vets, many of whom were drafted, was enraging to me at the time. (And still is to be honest).

A shameful process that continues still, although less overtly. For example Janet Napolitano as head of Homeland Security labelling vets as future domestic terrorists waiting for the right provocation. Disgusting and enraging to all vets, regardless of age.

You have put words to some thoughts I have had for some time, but felt too uncomfortable to discuss much. For instance, not everyone is suited well to go into the services. It does not mean theat they are not productive and it doesn't even mean that they do not perform dangerous jobs that keep us all safer-the same goes for police and fire people. What about cartoonists who drew a picture of Mohammad and lost their life? Or wrote a book amid death threats. I am thankful for any productive veteran in the war of ideas. :)

Well said and well done.

I also did not think of my service as a sacrifice.

Great post.

I also think this unthinking patriotism is a response to how Vietnam Vets were treated.

It is also a way to keep up the political support for the Military, which is republican welfare system.