Every Founding Father was a chickenhawk

You heard me. All those guys whose names are on the Declaration of Independence -- not one of them had ever fought in a war. John Adams? A lawyer. Thomas Jefferson? A plantation owner. Benjamin Franklin? A jack-of-all-trades and career diplomat. John Hancock? A merchant. But not ONE of them ever fought in the military.

And what about the big guy, Georgie Washington? Yeah, he fought some -- but he couldn't exactly be called a stellar military genius before the Revolution broke out. His major claim to fame was advising a British general not to lead a Redcoat army in full regalia into a trackless forest in hostile Indian territory. The general ignored Washington's advice and got himself shot along with most of his army. Not exactly fodder for war hero status.

So does that mean the Revolution shouldn't have been fought?

Or, for that matter, what about the other prominent chickenhawks who have made the decision to lead America into her greatest battles? Like Franklin Roosevelt, who led us through the dark days of World War II? Or Bill Clinton, the admitted draft-dodger, who led the coalition that entered the most altruistic war in world history, the Kosovo conflict, and whose fighting force was led by a general who so many of us would like to see run for President?

My point is, I don't like the chickenhawk meme. I just don't. I don't think we should have fought this war in Iraq, and I don't approve of the way we're fighting it now -- but I don't give a rat's ass whether those who have ordered us into the conflict ever served in the military or not. The soldiers who are fighting in this war are, at least for the time being, volunteers -- people who agreed to give their lives for their country if the government in power deemed it necessary. Now, to be clear, I don't think the government should have deemed it necessary to spend precious lives on this war, but I don't see why they need to send themselves or their sons and daughters off to a battle that other people have volunteered to fight in order to prove their case; a little circumspection and regard for human life and the rules of diplomacy would have done the job just fine.

If we were in a draft, then sure, let the unwilling potential soldiers in Congress put their money where their mouths are. But right now, I don't think they ought to be judged any differently from warmongers with no military service such as Adams and Madeleine Albright. Their war is wrong. But not because they're not fighting in it.

Some food for thought on this Fourth of July.

[Update] I was wrong about some of the Founding Fathers' military service. I still don't like the chickenhawk meme.