This latest John Kerry saga has prompted me to address a subject that few people are talking about. John Kerry said that students need to work hard or get stuck in Iraq. While this may have been a botched jab at Bush, it insulted our troops and brought this topic to the fore, at least for me. I am not going to go into whether he should apologize or go on the offensive against Bush on this. I am taking this statement he made for what it says:
If you don't work hard in school, if you don't get a scholarship or can't afford to go to college, you'll get stuck in Iraq. Unfortunately, this is a reality for many of our brave soldiers. They enter the military because there are not any alternatives.
Our economy is such that a high school diploma, unless you're brilliant or lucky, will not let you lead a successful, comfortable life in the sense that "success" is defined as.
This administration has allowed student loan interest rates to increase to a level such that it has become daunting for students to pay for college. On top of that, college tuition hikes have outpaced inflation for as long as I can remember.
A third reason our young people join the military is simply because they see their lives as a dead end. Our country is full of opportunities, but our school system has failed these youths by not showing them their potential.
Because of poor schools, economics or the lack of a better life, youth choose the military. It may make them feel patriotic to do so, but it is not patriotic that they have to. This administration as essentially instituted a back-door draft to underperforming students unable to score scholarships or who have their Pell grants taken away, and by increasing student loan interest rates. This administration should be ashamed of these tactics, and should not prey on our less fortunate kids for their willy-nilly wars.
The Bush-Rove Machine came out swinging against Kerry, saying that our troops joined the military because they felt it was their patriotic duty. They are dead wrong (what else is new). So many of our troops joined the military because our country provided no alternative. That is not patriotic. That is shameful. Kerry's statement, verbatim, was right. If our high school students don't bust their ass and somehow afford to get into college, they will end up stuck Iraq because of this incompetent administration.
It's time this argument is had.