And our sacred trust does not end when a service-member dies. The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground. When men and women who die in service to this country are laid to rest, there must be no protests near the funerals. It's wrong and it needs to stop.
So declared Senator Barack Obama who wants to be the Democratic Presidential nominee for 2008. From a speech he gave Tuesday, August 21st, to the VFW.
Read the above quote again. While pandering in speaking appearances is nothing new, ask yourself about what he's saying.
Fred Phelps' right-wing wackos have been protesting gays and lesbians by picketing military funerals for some time. They are wackos. But are they doing something unconstitutional?
No, not at all. They've got the right to protest any event they want.
Who, we wondered, would we protest? Whose funeral would we stage a protest outside? The only name we could all agree on was Henry Kissinger (though, under some apparent deal with the devil, he appears unstoppable).
Henry Kissinger's actions are responsible for a number of deaths around the world. In addition, his encouragement (to put it mildly) of the overthrowing of Chile's democratically elected government in 1973 led to torture (to murder as well, but we're focusing on torture survivors). A victim who was tortured under Pinochet's regime (and thousands of them are still alive) might want to protest at the funeral of War Criminal Henry Kissinger. His complicity in the overthrow of Salvador Allende's democratically elected government led to the murders and torture that followed. Since he's learned to avoid certain countries (due to extradition treaties) and thereby avoid extradition, the closest approximate of justice his victims may see is protesting at his funeral.
Some might argue, Obama's not saying they can't.
They may be right and that's the more troubling aspect of the quoted of Obama's speech.
We live in a democracy and, presumably, Obama's campaigning for as many votes as he can rake in. So why does it appear he's setting up a two-tier system? Military service members have hallowed graves? And what of the rest of Americans? We thought "hallowed grave" (and "hallowed ground" were terms used by poets throughout the centuries to apply to all and that, of course, the Catholic Church used the terms to refer to consecrated grounds. In fact, if Obama is suggesting that only military graves are "hallowed," he's going to run into a great deal of trouble with various religions (many of which, including the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, demand that their followers be buried on hallowed ground).
More likely, he was brown nosing again. Sucking up.
It needs to stop. In fact, we wondered if Obama had a stance on the pledge? For those who've forgotten, and Obama appears to have forgotten, it goes:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
"With liberty and justice for all." Nothing in there (admittedly, it came into existence well after the Declaration of Peace and the Constitution) about "with liberty and justice for all in the military." This two-tiered system Obama and others seem to be promoting needs to stop. In a democracy all are equal.
So, from a political standpoint, if he believes that any graves are hallowed, all are. (From a religious standpoint, he can think whatever he wants.)