Where Men Win Glory

Everyone knows the story of Pat Tillman. (At least, I hope that you do. TEA may not know the story, but he is also 8. He was not born when Tillman left the NFL and enlisted in the Army. He has an excuse. I am sure that there are a handful who do not know who is he and do not care. This is not for you then. Or maybe it is.)

This past week, the New York Times had a review of a new history of the Union's involvement in the Civil War (Or as I want to call it, the War of Southern Asshatedness) and in the article, there was this important passage:

They fought because they regarded the United States as a unique experiment in democracy that guaranteed political liberty and economic opportunity in a world overrun by tyranny. Saving the Union, in the words of Secretary of State William H. Seward*, meant “the saving of popular government for the world.”

At a time when only half the population bothers to vote and many Americans hold their elected representatives in contempt, Gallagher offers a salutary reminder of the power of democratic ideals not simply to Northerners in the era of the Civil War, but also to people in other nations, who celebrated the Union victory as a harbinger of greater rights for themselves.

I just read the expanded Where Men Win Glory about the life and fratricide of Pat Tillman and the above quote made me think of him, especially why Tillman chose to enlist after 9-11.

Since Into Thin Air, I have been a fan of Krakauer and this book did nothing to do dissuade me of that (Interesting note: I link to the New York Times review of WMWG which was written by Dexter Filkins, who wrote The Forever War, another author and book that I really enjoyed, Filkins savaged Krakauer and his book in the review. Hence, the reason I decided to link to it. Blogging is a process, folks, and as part of my process, I think about which link I am going to use as well as having long nonsensical parentheticals in the middle of otherwise interesting passages.)(Not that I am saying that I have written anything interesting, yet.) even though there was quite of bit of it being too much of a glowing hagiography and less of a story about the things that I wanted to know.  It did have the benefit of reading incredibly quickly though.

Gah! Distracted.

So, Tillman worked hard, made his own decisions, and chose to serve based on an idea. Not quite an idea of American Exceptionalism, though there is part of that in Krakauer's narrative, but the concept that ideas are important enough to fight for, especially when you do not have a religious faith.

This got me thinking about the power of ideas and the need for all Americans to understand what our experiment is really about. (I redacted a lot of this. Not because I did not believe it but because I did not want to share. Americanism is the closest I have to a religion, and I still get goosebumps when I hear the Star Spangled Banner, and...you know what...make up your own minds. Most of you reading this have been required to take some sort of ethics of Government class, and most of you have used your franchise, so you know what it is about. You understand what this grand experiment means.)

Therefore, when you think about being asked to sacrifice, something that Rep. Ryan only wants certain people to do, ask yourself, what would they have said in 1861? What would have Pat Tillman said?

Edit: The majority of this was written early Sunday night before the announcement regarding OBL. I redacted roughly five hundred words because as I said above, I am keeping my opinions to myself.

*Yeah, he went to Union! Go Dutchmen!