An Unpopular Question for Veteran's Day

A few minutes ago I was on the first floor of the building where I work talking to a young man in charge of Valencia's Veteran's Day ceremony.

 

Valencia had a large display of photos of men and women from this college who had served in foreign wars since September 11th.    Valencia also had music playing.

 

I was about to give an exam in a room very close to where the speakers where located and was concerned that my students would be distracted while trying to take their exam. 

 

As I was politely and respectfully asking the coordinator if the music could be turned down a little a young man standing next to him bluntly and tersely said, "This music is for dead soldiers."

 

He proceeded to tell me that his grandfather and father had preceded him in service to our country and informed me that he had lost half his foot in battle.  I did not know if he was being truthful or not but he persisted in his contempt for my mere request that music be turned down.  At one point he said, "While you were in college, I was serving my country."   This was an interesting claim for two reasons.  First, he did not know anything about my past.  Second, given his age it is more likely that while I was in college, he was not even born.

 

Yet, his willingness to give me his biography of service in the military - and his claim that I was disrespectful to our veterans - reminds me of something that I have been bothered by for a long time. 

 

I seem to recall reading, on many occasions, that when veterans of World War II came home they simply got back to work, kept largely quiet and tried to re-establish their lives as civilians.

 

I do not believe there where any hats sold that read, "World War II Veteran" or constant reminders - by the veterans - that they had served.

 

My grandfather - several generations removed - served in the New Jersey militia during the Revolutionary War.  His grandson served in the army in New Orleans in 1803.  My father served in missile silos during the height of the Cold War.  My wife's uncle dropped into Normandy on D-Day.   I never served in the military but have spent 25 years teaching the principles our military stands for. 

 

Should I have a hat or shirt or jacket or bumper sticker made to mention any of this?

 

No disrespect intended, but when did our country lose its sense of doing ones duty without constantly reminding everyone that your duty had been done?

 

There have been untold numbers of Americans who have contributed with swords, guns and words (see Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson & Thomas Paine to name a few) without succumbing to the temptation to constantly remind people what they had done.

 

This should be particularly useful to veterans of more modern wars.  None were drafted, all knew what was going on in the Middle East and no one has treated them like we treated Vietnam veterans upon their return.

 

If there is anything today's veterans should be pointing out to the rest of us it is this:

 

Our nation no longer stands for the principles of liberty that the Revolutionary War and World War II veterans fought for.  We have become a nation of characterless, welfare-seeking, selfie-taking people who do not know anything - and care even less - about what our veterans were fighting for.

 

That reality is worth a bumper sticker.

I am pretty sure my life is almost over....

It is that time of year folks - the tests my students have taken are on my desk, my red pen is in my hand and I get to dive into the minds of people who have spent 13 years in America's government schools.

Reading exams literally causes my chest to tighten, my left arm to go somewhat numb and words to form in my mind (and sometimes mouth) that would make Chris Rock blush.

For example.

Question six on my recent midterm exam reads:  Graphically illustrate and fully explain how falling gasoline prices could impact the market for large pickup trucks.  Then, graphically illustrate and explain how rising health care costs could impact consumer prices. 

Here is an answer I just finished reading.  As always, these are unedited.

"If gas prices fell.  That would mean our trucks could pay less and go further.  Our wal-mart trucks could rapidly supply thing in case of emergency disaster.  If this happened we could pay our drivers more which in turn make them value their jobs & take them seriously no falling asleep at the wheel.  The rising in health care cost is crazy.  If this is a forever thing our economy will be shot.  If we have to pay more for health care we have less money for the medication we need.  As well will the consumers levels for the meds.  Our hard studied pharmacist will have to get cut hours & pay this will lead to their familys suffering they will need a second job & will have less time with kids or any loved ones."

Yes, you read this correctly.  This is not uncommon, either.

People ask me all the time, "How is work?" 

My answer always hinges on whether I have had any tests to grade at the time they ask the question. 

I love teaching.

I hate reading much of the musings that are rolling around in the minds of my students.

Back to work.  Pray my wife doesn't find my remains slumped over a pile of papers...

Should People be Forced to Serve?

What follows is my Op-Ed in the October 31, 2014 Orlando Sentinel.  I hope you find it useful.
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At the height of the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon appointed two economists — Milton Friedman and Alan Greenspan — to examine the efficacy of maintaining America's long tradition of compulsory military service. During one particularly contentious conversation with Gen. William Westmoreland, Friedman compared a military made up of drafted men to slavery. Westmoreland countered with the argument that he would not want "mercenaries" under his command. By mercenaries, Westmoreland of course meant people who volunteered to join the military out of self-interest, rather than the "public good" of serving his fellow man.

By 1973, Friedman, Greenspan and notably Martin Anderson, an economics professor at Columbia, had succeeded in convincing Nixon to end mandatory military service.
 

Since that time, the U.S. military — made up of an all-volunteer force — has maintained a level of productivity, strength and dedication to service that would seem unlikely to people who believe that only through compulsion can we maintain a fighting force of men and women who would be willing to die for their country.

 

The same is true in other organizations that require putting the interests of strangers ahead of the love of self.

In America today, millions of people devote countless hours to religious and secular charities. From missionary work of Christian organizations all over the world to the Peace Corp, the Salvation Army, Goodwill and innumerable other charities, we have seen the power of voluntary association continue to grow. This was a predictable outgrowth of the system of liberty formulated by our Founding Fathers.
 
In the early 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville spent nine months traveling throughout Canada and the United States, recording his observations in what would become the basis of his classic writing, "Democracy in America." One of his many comments on the character of the American people is as follows: "I must say that I have seen Americans make a great deal of real sacrifices to the public welfare; and have noticed a hundred instances in which they hardly ever failed to lend a faithful support to one another."

 

What de Tocqueville recognized was the fact that in a society where voluntary association is viewed as a right to the human existence, charity and mutual cooperation will always take place.

Adam Smith taught us in 1776 that human beings are driven by their self-interest to serve their fellow man. For Smith — and eventually the Founders who codified our rights to "pursue happiness" — human beings recognize that in order to gain what we desire, we must serve our fellow man. In business this means that serving others creates profit. But when it comes to altruism (which is also a natural human emotion), our self-interest is promoted by helping others who are in need of everything from protection from foreign enemies to protection from hunger and disease.

No one has had to force Bill and Melinda Gates to give away billions of dollars. No one coerces those who work for Habitat for Humanity. No one needed to force former National Football League star Pat Tillman to leave his life of prosperity to join the Army Rangers in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
As long as we are a nation of rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, people will freely choose to assist in the protection of these rights for total strangers. By respecting our right to serve, or not serve, we maintain a system where many productive people self-select military or charitable service while other people — who believe they would best serve as entrepreneurs or college students — pursue those goals.

Forcing people to serve in areas where they have little desire not only leads to less effective "public service" organizations, and a weaker military, but also an economically inefficient redistribution of talent away from where it would be best placed.