Interesting show on today's Talk of the Nation, focusing on an Op-Ed in the New York Times by former senator Larry Pressler (R-SD) who asserts that many of today's ethical problems stem from the patently unfair draft during the period 1963-1969. His Op-Ed is titled, "The Technicality Generation."
From the show's introduction:
Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal claimed he served in Vietnam. In fact, he obtained deferments, then served stateside. Larry Pressler, a Vietnam veteran and former Senator, argues that Blumenthal's problems are indicative of "the dishonesty that surrounded the Vietnam-era draft."
Interesting piece from Pressler's article:
Too many in my generation did a deeply insidious thing. And they got away with it. Big time. Poorer people went to war. The men who didn’t were able to get their head start to power.
Now that flawed thinking has been carried forward. Many of these men who evaded service but claimed idealism lead our elite institutions. The concept of using legal technicalities to evade responsibility has been carried over to playing with derivatives, or to short-changing shareholders. Once my generation got in the habit of saying one thing and believing another, it couldn’t stop.
I wonder how many of today's 'eilite' fall into Pressler's category of those who 'evaded' military service during the Vietnam era to advance their careers.
Provocative article, definitely worth reading.
"War is good business; invest your son." -- Unknown, falsely attributed to President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War
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