Reply #8: ideology is not a fixed barometer [View All]

[Seneca]

It is dicey to use contemporary ideological yardsticks and apply them to past historical figures. People don't live their lives, nor construct their personal ethical and moral codes, on rigid and often phony left-right constructs. That kind of thinking is as artificially dichotomous as what our adversaries such as Rush or Bush purvey.

Did some generals of the past have a conscience that could overlap with that of a contemporary liberal? Yes. Grant, who was a young officer during the Mexican War, hated that war. It was as nearly as divisive as Vietnam in its time. He knew it was pure expansionism.

A more recent example of a 'liberal' general would be George Marshall. Even Eisenhower, to some extent, who put aside whatever personal qualms he had in the matter and sent troops to Little Rock to enforce desegregation.

Still, what this proves is not that some generals may have been "liberal", but they were unique human beings like the rest of us, with varying degrees of compassion, reason, and ethical considerations. Your premise is well-meaning, but flawed, based on the fact that definitions of "liberal" and "conservative" vary from person to person, and from era to era.