It's tough voting Republican...

in a world of completely unethical Republicans. Perhaps you have received an email detailing the number of deaths in the armed services year by year since 1980, coming to the conclusion that, under the Clinton Administration, 14,107 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines died, while only 7,932 died under good ol' dubya, bless his heart.

This is, naturally, contradictory to "common sense," which is the point of this email. The numbers even come with a source. So I read the source, and it was pretty impressively researched. It had lots of food for thought. But, the numbers in the email were sometimes significantly different than the ones in the report (see chart, page 10). I ran a quick tally with a calculator, and verified my results with two other reports.

Clinton: 7,500 active duty military deaths.
Bush: 8,792 active duty military deaths, not counting 2007 or 2008.

Which is still pretty impressive, considering that Bush is waging two wars. Apparently, there are a good number of deaths by accident/illness/homicide even in off-years. But, seriously, did you really believe that 2000+ American soldiers died each year in 1995, 1996, and 1998 (more than died in any year of the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan?)

Hey, well, real numbers doesn't make down-home, righteous, self-assured Republicans feel better about their war. Believing something because it makes liberals out to be stupid, incompetent, unpatriotic, sniveling, add your descriptor of choice, does.

So, Americans everywhere. Could we find a way to elevate our discussion of public policy to something better than lies and vilification? Let's start here.

I, Dan Holcomb, pledge not to be gullible when someone walks by waving the flag and selling an a feel-fear/feel-good/feel-superior agenda. I pledge to take seriously the governance of our society, which is an inheritance of great value passed down to me by ancestors both conservative and liberal, and which has no legions of liberal-American-hating/conservative-reactionary-war-loving enemies but actually is constituted of a lot of people like me, except with different unfounded and often reflexive opinions. I pledge to not believe something because it fits what I already believe or want to believe, but to ask to see some real evidence. I pledge to resist actions and thoughts that come from lazy conditioning and emotional impulse.

And foremost, I pledge not to feel superior to someone else because of my ideology. I will, instead, feel superior based upon my actions--the things I actually do to make my city, my county, my state, and my country a better place, not just by voting so that someone else can be my moral scapegoat, but by doing it myself.

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ps--for those of you involved in education, the armytimes.com article about this email would be an excellent discussion-starter on the importance of doing your own research and getting solid sources and then checking the addition and subtraction yourself instead of believing an email just because it claims to use data from a reputable source.

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pps--I am accepting 500-word submissions at reifiedbeans+comedy (at symbol) gmail.com. Topic: creative explanations for the "mistaken" numbers in the email in question.

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also, is anyone reading this? I've been posting a lot lately, but...no comments. Am I obnoxious? Uninteresting? Under the radar? Send me some love. Cheers!