The people who supported the Vietnam war were left dazed and confused when the thing ended. It simply ended with the U.S. presence in that hellhole getting out. It was anything but graceful too. The fall of Saigon didn't even happen until 1975. That was well past the time when Americans had reached consensus that the war was unwise for us.
"Unwise for us" rather rings of understatement. Remember that there was a time when war boosters were pugnacious with their attitude. The skeptics could be forced into defensiveness.
History may not repeat itself but it rhymes. Is that Mark Twain's wisdom? So today I wonder: Will this incredible wave of pugnacious pro-Trump support across the U.S. fade? Will it fade under the daily headlines of the terrible stuff being turned up about the Trump element when it had power?
Daily we hear things that would make any reasonable person think it was folly to allow this person to be president for four years. To be in power at the covid outbreak and suggest right to the TV camera that bleach and UV light might be advised. People around him in the room had to be thinking "this is totally nuts." But the guy making the statements was president. He had been elected by less than a majority of U.S. citizens.
Today the facts are being laid bare, daily I tell you, about how Trump trampled on all principles of fairness and integrity. It's all in our face, quite like the realization that our involvement in Vietnam was never defensible, never even close. I remember reading an account of that awakening once. Maybe it was when amnesty was arranged for those having fled the country to avoid combat, to avoid being killed or killing others.
Leaving Vietnam was a matter of absolute necessity at the end. "We were killing our own colonels," a panelist on C-Span said.
All those people who had shown bravado talking up the war: what could they say when the facts were laid bare before them? Really nothing. The piece I read observed that these people were essentially left in a daze. They were left essentially mute. Then they'd move on with their own lives. That's the objective we all follow in the end. Ultimately we look out for No. 1.
Vietnam? Well, that untidy little matter is left tucked in the past. A "little" matter that got something like 60,000 young American men killed. Oh, I'm sure some women too. We are realizing ever more the pronoun problems with the English language. I think it's sanctimonious when our political leaders talk about "our men and women in uniform," as if we need to stress that both sexes are involved. Well of course they're both involved.
The pro-war people of the '60s looked up to John Wayne. Wayne was merely an actor, an entertainment professional, and this in no way should have given him credentials for leading a political wave on anything. He was excellent within his profession, did more than just act. But sometimes we as a society feel we need to look up to people like this on matters of great import. To have them hold our hand.
In the end we saw people clinging to helicopters on rooftops, and helicopters being pushed off boats as people fled Saigon in Vietnam. Fortunately this could be caught on videotape, just as we had seen the famous "Zippo Lighter" story from Vietnam. American ingenuity, I guess: a simple Zippo Lighter that could burn down a whole Vietnamese village.
And yet it seemed rather like pulling teeth to have the U.S. acknowledge that things weren't working out, that we would have to leave. The pro-war people simply went silent. So if all the revelations now about Donald Trump sink in, will a similar reaction happen? Will the U.S. population come to its senses, employing simple wisdom and ethics, and allow the legal system to mete out the necessary measures?
Talk about "like pulling teeth." And a sad consequence of this turgid process is the realization - make that a reminder - of our two-tiered legal system in America. Holy balls. The rich and powerful can amass the legal firepower to delay, deflect, obfuscate, whatever. To appeal. To argue facts in reverse. You know the whole routine. You can be edified further at present with all the denials and finger-pointing.
Shouldn't some of these people start to feel embarrassed? A refined and expensive lawyer can argue that Brett Kavanaugh ("Justice Brewsky") did not really lie to Susan Collins. A lawyer might have to go into contortions but he can still do this, at least good enough to leave you stammering.
Meanwhile, what about the bottom tier of our legal system? Just one example needed: my driving around town a few years ago and being pulled over by police for no seat belt. No warning, I got a ticket. My parents were in the car with me. I was taking them home from the (now-defunct) senior citizens center. Real scofflaw, I was. No warning, a ticket.
At the moment the cop comes to the window, I'm toast. I have no real recourse, so unlike the big shots of the U.S. Beltway who can use the high-falutin' attorneys. "So-and-so denies wrongdoing."
And now, aren't you getting fed up with this day after day? Will we see an ending like the denouement of Vietnam? It would offer relief, yes. But there also would be profound sadness. "Bleach and UV light." The legacy.
There is still enough Trump sympathy out there, especially here in the hinterlands like Morris MN, for people to come forward and say "you're just a Trump-hater." Aggravating, yes. Reality, yes. Sad, yes.
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| Happy 82nd, Ringo |
I post this on the day after Ringo Starr's birthday. His 82nd birthday was Thursday, July 7. He wanted everyone to share a "peace and love" message at noon. It's never too late to do this, of course.
I invite you to read my post done on the day of his birthday. It's on my companion blog "Morris of Course." I reflect on the aging process and get into class reunions. I recall a long-ago newspaper column written by a well-liked Catholic priest here in Morris, Jerry Dalseth. He was a Morris native. I played trumpet with his sister Marcia. She was better then me. Here is the link:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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