COLUMN: "When Freedom Called . . . "

From George Allen, Jr.'s "Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn," Spring '92.From George Allen, Jr.'s "Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn," Spring '92.· In retrospect, the Cold War -- and all the hot wars -- against communism were wars of freedom against slavery. It is now evident that the United States was not so bad after all and the Soviet Union was truly the Evil Empire. Anyone who does not believe this today is probably an educator, a Euro-liberal or Fidel Castro. The Vietnam War was moral because it was a war of good against evil. If a war is moral, it is not to say that the war was fought correctly. After World War II, the American foreign policy establishment, like the Europeans they prayed to, began to believe that freedom was not useful in warfare. American foreign policy became based on a defeatist principle of realpolitik and defensive action through which such progressive figures like Somoza, the Shah of Iran, Mobutu and Deng were supported to deter the red menace. Rather than fighting in hotspots, using the American ideals of freedom, big defense projects, big bureaucracies and big handouts were the weapons of the Cold War. Vietnam and its people were the casualties of this stupid policy. Unusually enough, those who were initially sent off to Asia were well prepared for a protracted guerilla conflict. All were volunteers and were specially trained to liberate the oppressed. The Special Forces successfully worked to promote freedom using unconventional tactics and techniques. They were constantly undermined by a bunch of bureaucratic yahoos in Washington who thought borders and individual rights were respected by guerillas and that offensive action was not a gentlemanly way to conduct a war. Bureaucrats who start wars think freedom is a messy thing. It can't be controlled, destroyed, or polished; consequently, they don't believe in it. Eventually because of this computerized, bed-wetting, realpolitik crowd, the idea of the war as good-versus-evil or freedom-versus-slavery was lost. The war was expanded into some strato-computer model with body counts and bean-counting of weapons. The Special Forces, as the most unbureaucratic and effective soldiers, were relegated by the anal retentive computer club crowd to supporting the large, unprofessional, unprepared, draft armies that were funnelled into Vietnam to die. The purpose of the war was lost, consquently humans were used like machines. Ronald Reagan belived in the revolutionary purpose of freedom. His basic premise was, let's get the Reds because they don't believe in freedom and are the bad guys. He took on the Soviet Union and took them down. This was a big shock for the European realpolitik defeatists of the previous 35 years who had lost or tied every debacle they had gotten into with the Reds. They couldn't (and still can't) believe it was that easy. If you use the ideas of freedom, you will win. In essence this proves that one side was good and the other was evil and the Vietnam War was moral, but fought the wrong way. The foreign policy adopted in Vietnam let some Americans die while others snuggled in their beds. (Or in the case of Bill Clinton, Gennifer Flower's bed) Essentially this is a bipartisan issue because both Billy-Boy (D -- Arkansas) and Danny-Boy (R -- Indiana) ran like hell when they felt the draft. A lot of people joined R.O.T.C. (be it Run-Off-To-Canada or the Reserve Officer Training Corps) to get a draft deferment. Others went to college and refused to leave until the real world became soft and fuzzy, like college. Many of these people are still on campus. They're called professors. I do not believe in the draft because, besides believing in individual freedom, I believe, as proven by the Special Forces, that a small professional military is more effective than a large draft military. During Vietnam, the draft, like all "equitable" socialist schemes, turned into a genuine class struggle, with the poor bearing the price. The kids of the rich went off to universities, paid for by the poor man's taxes, so they could whine about the class struggle and spit in the faces of returning soldiers; the children of the poor. All the draft dodgers I knew that attended the mental institutions -- known as colleges at the time -- became public school teachers. These "vanguards of education" then gutted my school's curriculum with their crazy ideologies. Hell, the draft must have been immoral if the idiots who tried to "reeducate" me weren't forced to go to Vietnam. If it is accepted that the Vietnam War was moral and that the draft was stupid, we can see Bill Clinton like he really is. He was against freedom and against the draft. He would have rather seen communism win than see his ass on the line. What a self-sacrificing individual. He should be president. Euro-liberals, thinking that everyone is self-centered like them, always ask me what I would have done if I was in a situation like Bill Clinton's. Since I love freedom and hate the draft, I would have enlisted in the United States Special Forces. · George Allen, Jr. is a senior Intellectual History and Political Science major from Alderwood Manor, Washington. Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn appears alternate Wednesdays.

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