by Michael Burgwin

Created on: March 02, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

In order to answer the question: Why Americans should support the troops, we have to first ask another question: What do we mean by "support."

In order to answer either of these questions we have to understand what the role of the military is in a democratic society. Very simply put, the role of US troops is to protect the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution, which protects the rights of all American citizens (and non-citizens) by defining the rule of law, also gives shape to a moral high ground that includes restraints on military force. From that lofty philosophical/spiritual position, we stand against all forms of aggression by politically resisting that aggression in ways that allow our adversary every opportunity to change course before they and, then, we resort to military force.

As Jeanette Rankin once said, "You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."

Because we place the highest value on peace, if war was a gunfight, we would be the side that waits for the other to draw first. In order to minimize our vulnerability we do everything we can to prepare ourselves to be the quicker, more accurate draw.

Out of the Nuremberg Tribunal, which applied world justice to those who started World War II: "War is essentially an evil thing ... To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

From our high moral ground, we understand that we are vulnerable to first strike. Our opponent may be quicker and we may suffer before we assert the full power of our response. We accept that risk because we hold our Constitution and all that it represents above our own individual lives. Our warriors are willing to sacrifice themselves for their comrades and this great country and we do everything in our power to protect them as they are defending us: training, equipment, supplies, logistical support, excellent leadership, and right mission.

As our troops respond to aggression against us, they are protecting the democratic process, which is empowered in the Constitution. They are providing the quick shield so that we may collectively determine and, hopefully, support our country's course of action, a process that requires all of our participation. We support the troops by assuring that their mission and their actions in executing that mission adhere to the highest moral standards

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