Arkin's Post As It Relates To Education

One of the big stories in the dextrosphere (that's the right-of-center blogosphere) was the blog post by Washington Post blogger William Arkin. To summarize, Arkin took individual soldiers to task for expressing dismay about the lack of support for the war here at home.

Extreme left-wing blogger Kos, he of Ned Lamont fame (and infamy), not only agreed with Arkin but went him one further. I'll quote Kos' words from Little Green Footballs (see blogroll at left), as I'd rather not link directly to him:

All hell has broken loose on the right wing Milblogs concerning an article William Arkin wrote at the Washington Post. In this article, Arkin dared to cross the line and say that the Military is out of line when it criticizes the American Public for being against the war. The military’s place is to do the bidding of the United States citizenry .. period! It is not for them to criticize the American population for deciding they no longer want to fund a war.

This, of course, is a point I have brought up many times and the Milblogs when (sic) crazy then. You, the military, are the servants of the people. That is what you signed up for. We send you to war and we bring you home. We tell you when to wake up and when to go to bed. If you do not like that, GET OUT. But, that is the life you chose.

It gets worse from there, but you get the idea.

Some of LGF's commenters, though, have a little more sense. One pointed out that soldiers take an oath to support the Constitution and to follow the lawful orders of the President, not polls of the people. Another pointed out that sometimes the Left portrays our military as victims of an imperial administration (that's why they support them), but here portray them as servants of the people--so which is it? Another points out that the Left doesn't seem to know the difference between a democracy and a democratic republic--to which I add that the left would prefer to see us live in a democratic people's republic. I guess Arkin and Kos forget that our military, far from being a mercenary force, are still citizens.

My favorite comment, though, tied the topic to education. The first part of the comment references another comment, while the second part amplifies:

So, folks are chicken hawks if we don't serve in the military, but the moment you're in the military, you must listen to the civilian population because they know better.

But parents shouldn't tell the experts in the educational system how to do their jobs......

Classic!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: consistency is not a strong suit of the Left. I wish the lefties would just admit what the rest of us already know to be true--they think they should make all the decisions. They're smarter, stronger, faster than the rest of us, and they know what's best for us. We need to listen to our betters.

The public school system and the teachers unions know what's best for your child. If you don't like your local public school, lump it. No vouchers, no charter schools for you. Your kid gets pregnant--we don't trust you parents to make the right decision (kill the baby! kill the baby!) so we'll make it for you, and you'll never even know.

The left will bring us to fascism.

Update, 2/7/07: Instapundit (see blogroll at left) has a good encapsulation. I like the closing line:

Free speech is speech that doesn't offend people you're afraid of.