www.Neo-Liberalism.org	What My Grandfather Taught Me About War	An Anti-War Stance Does Not Mean We Should Not Help Americans That Are Suffering at the Hands of the Neo-Con's Military Adventures http://www.pva.org/

I write this post for my grandfather.  He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, (Golden Lion Battalion, I think). His words forever color my opinion of war because what he said about it was not at all what I expected. That is what you miss about those important advisers that you meet through your life. When they are gone, their advice is gone, because they often said the most unexpected things when presented with the truly vexing issues of life that we all face.

When I would ask him about WWII, he would say little.  Occasionally, he would talk some about waving to German soldiers on the other side of the river, (Rhine?) while he patrolled on the Allied side.  Or perhaps he would show me the elaborate wooden case that dispensed cigarettes by means of some hidden mechanism inside which was carved by a German prisoner of war.  The workmanship was first rate and the prisoner had carved the name of my mother and grandmother's names into the side panels.  Or maybe I would ask him about the wartime photos of him with a small dog. He would always cloud up and say, "Nothing good ever happens in war"

As a high school student, I asked my grandfather whether he was upset that Jimmy Carter had granted amnesty to the draft dodgers in Canada.  His answer sticks with me to this day. I know many will call him unpatriotic, a traitor or worse, but those that knew him, know he was a great patriot and what he said echoes in my ears to this day. 

"If I knew then what I know now, I never would have gone.", said my grandfather in a very serious tone.

I asked what he meant and he made some cryptic references to those that killed RFK and JFK and Martin Luther King.  The answer only began to make sense years after he died.   Killing people because your government says you must is a terrible thing and makes you a pawn in their personal power and geo-political games. Politics is a dirty, dirty business.

I eventually became a card-carrying Libertarian. It helped me make peace with my grandfather's political soul. He was always a self-professed yellow dog Democrat and in high school I had been known to scribble Reagan in '80 on the chalkboard. He had treated my bout of conservatism as a phase I would outgrow and he was right. In the end, I knew my grandfather would have defended my political choice had he known it with a shout of, "At least he's not a Republican!"   :-)

I was surprised to learn when I officially joined the Libertarian Party that I would be asked to sign an oath stating, "I will never advocate war to achieve political ends".  During this last war, Libertarians were split on Iraq, and I was shocked that so many could have signed that oath and then support such an obvious political war. I guess there is little that can be done about a "lack of intelligence".

I was unmoved by the war drums of the neo-conservatives. In my heart, I was guided by my grandfather's words and perhaps lack of words on war. He was a brave man, serving as a fireman after he returned home. I knew my grandfather was no coward and no fool. In this current rush to war, many World War II analogies have been brought to bear, really propaganda in my opinion. Often we hear that the War on Terror is a "just" war, a necessary war. Many a talking head has asserted that WWII was the last "just" war; the last war that really gave glory to its vets until this new War on Terror.   This is shallow and misguided.

No war, ever imparted glory to the foot soldiers, maybe a general, politician or two, but foot soldiers only have the bond that they forged through the shared experience of passing through hell!

I miss you Poppy and hope that I have not dishonored you by posting your words here.  They are the same words that I now pass on to your great-grandchildren.

Love, Tony