W
Wm. Harris
Guest
This is my first post on this forum. Please, allow me to regale you with a short editorial I wrote concerning the Canadian Forces.
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Has anyone ever really listened to the opinions of liberals on the Canadian military?
"Canadians don‘t need a military," they say.
Well, we sure needed one in 1899 and 1914 and 1939 and 1950. Heck, we even needed one in 1991 and 1999. Doctors and diplomats make for poor peacekeepers, and sending wads of cash and a lot of love to the world‘s hotspots hasn‘t exactly proven a successful method in the past. But Rudyard Kipling said it best when he wrote:
<I>For it‘s Tommy this, an‘ Tommy that, an‘ "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it‘s "Saviour of ‘is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An‘ it‘s Tommy this, an‘ Tommy that, an‘ anything you please;
An‘ Tommy ain‘t a bloomin‘ fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!</I>
"Canada is not in danger of invasion," they say.
The Russians, Spanish and American fishing fleets would love to find our coasts undefended. So would Chinese snakeheads.
"We need the money for social programs," they say.
Taking the pittance currently spent on national defense would hardly make a difference in the money vacuum of health care and welfare. Perhaps the money currently spent on the navy might pay EI for ALL maritime fishermen once they are put out of work by foreign overfishing, or perhaps the money currently spent on the army would make a great aid package to clean up after the next big African war. But then, old fashioned conservatives like me would take an ounce of prevention over a pound of cure.
"Let the private sector fund the military," they say.
Oh yes, we‘ve had brilliant success with that in the past. Remember the GTS Katie? Canada‘s cache of military equipment held hostage by a handful of disgruntled Russians? It boggles the mind to think that the left would ever dream of privatizing national defense, but recoils in horror at the slightest indication of for-profit involvement in health care.
"Babies before bullets," they say.
Tell that to the Hutus and Tutsis of Rwanda. Tell that to the Kosovars and Serbs. Tell that to the countless children saved by Canadian peacekeepers and anti-mine specialists.
All these things the leftists say to the military, all these barbs and arrows and calls for their disbandment. And yet, it escapes them to say the one thing that any self-respecting, patriotic Canuck should say to the men and women who make up our Thin Red Line:
"Thank you".
_____________________________
Has anyone ever really listened to the opinions of liberals on the Canadian military?
"Canadians don‘t need a military," they say.
Well, we sure needed one in 1899 and 1914 and 1939 and 1950. Heck, we even needed one in 1991 and 1999. Doctors and diplomats make for poor peacekeepers, and sending wads of cash and a lot of love to the world‘s hotspots hasn‘t exactly proven a successful method in the past. But Rudyard Kipling said it best when he wrote:
<I>For it‘s Tommy this, an‘ Tommy that, an‘ "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it‘s "Saviour of ‘is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An‘ it‘s Tommy this, an‘ Tommy that, an‘ anything you please;
An‘ Tommy ain‘t a bloomin‘ fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!</I>
"Canada is not in danger of invasion," they say.
The Russians, Spanish and American fishing fleets would love to find our coasts undefended. So would Chinese snakeheads.
"We need the money for social programs," they say.
Taking the pittance currently spent on national defense would hardly make a difference in the money vacuum of health care and welfare. Perhaps the money currently spent on the navy might pay EI for ALL maritime fishermen once they are put out of work by foreign overfishing, or perhaps the money currently spent on the army would make a great aid package to clean up after the next big African war. But then, old fashioned conservatives like me would take an ounce of prevention over a pound of cure.
"Let the private sector fund the military," they say.
Oh yes, we‘ve had brilliant success with that in the past. Remember the GTS Katie? Canada‘s cache of military equipment held hostage by a handful of disgruntled Russians? It boggles the mind to think that the left would ever dream of privatizing national defense, but recoils in horror at the slightest indication of for-profit involvement in health care.
"Babies before bullets," they say.
Tell that to the Hutus and Tutsis of Rwanda. Tell that to the Kosovars and Serbs. Tell that to the countless children saved by Canadian peacekeepers and anti-mine specialists.
All these things the leftists say to the military, all these barbs and arrows and calls for their disbandment. And yet, it escapes them to say the one thing that any self-respecting, patriotic Canuck should say to the men and women who make up our Thin Red Line:
"Thank you".