When Did We Militarize The Presidency?

Time was that the President was thought of as the President. Now the news folks, those who are so busy setting the national agenda, constantly refer to the President as the Commander in Chief. Our Constitution does designate the President as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces (Article II, Section 2), however he is much more, and for most of my lifetime we didn't dwell upon the President's qualifications to be Commander in Chief.

Dwight Eisenhower had been Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, but even he was looked upon as a president, and having sent so many men into battle, he worked hard at avoiding conflict during his presidency. Few people alive today know how hard Eisenhower worked at keeping the peace. A reading of the history of the U-2 spy plane program makes it clear. As wonderful as that plane was, he didn't let them fly it anywhere where he thought it might cause a war. The Powers shoot down was a shock to him.

By the time Bill Clinton ran for president, commentators were asking whether candidates were fit to be Commander in Chief. Perhaps it was Clintoin's obvious cynical draft dodging. During the George W. Bush Administration the Secretary of Defense insisted that all world wide CINCs, that is Commanders in Chief, such as the Navy's CINCLANTFLT, or Commander in Chief, US Atlantic Fleet, undergo name changes because “there is only one Commander in Chief.” It's nice to be powerful — it enables silliness without consequence.

Considering the fact that the United States has sought out and engaged in conflict almost continuously since the early 1990s, the militarization of the presidency may be understandable, but it is unhealthy.

Haiku in Memory of The Attack on Vukovar

We are Vukovar, The dying; buildings that smoke, Let dead voices speak.

The Problem Isn't What They Say, It's What They Stand For

“We need to learn how to talk to a bigger swath of the population.” — MSNBC anchor quoting a Democratic Party operative

There's a too-often employed saying that once you put lipstick on a pig you still have a pig. That Democratic Party operative must be too young to have heard the phrase. Those voters in the big red middle of the country can read. I read “Joe's Plan.” To them it was one big Bernie Sanders socialist playbook. Whether it was a worthy playbook is irrelevant. Tell those oil states their meal ticket will be worthless in fifteen years. Rush Limbaugh has been telling them that the German's have been going through rolling blackouts since they prematurely put their nuke and coal plants to sleep.

If you look at the Wednesday morning electoral map, you will see how divided the United States really is. The emphasis on electoral vote totals is so ingrained that I haven't seen any popular vote totals, but a country this divided must be in trouble.