Accusations of "draft dodging" in politicians... [View All]

[gardenista]

This has robbed us of some potentially great leaders. I deeply respect people like Clark and Kerry, who have served their country in the military. But there have been other great leaders who did not serve in the military, and who served our country or communities in other valuable ways.

My beloved Dad ran for local office and won, and worked his keister off for our community, making some wonderful improvements to our city's infrastructure. However, he was attacked by jealous rivals for "draft dodging" because of a medical deferment. Though he was re-elected, he was deeply hurt by the dirty politics, and did not run for a third term. The people lost out on a good leader, because it was all too easy for rivals to attack him and paint him as a coward. It robbed him of his ambition to serve our community, and our country, in other very valuable ways, and it robbed the people of an effective, passionate public servant.

It's important to remember that one can serve one's country in many, many ways. The military is but one of them.