Knows whereof he speaks

Do you ever ask yourself why you have more pagans and various flavors of lefties on your site than conservs? While I would question your deep and meaningful statistical analysis of the circumstance (heh), I'd say it's because Rod welcomes people of all stripes to discuss the ideas he puts forward. I'm sure that appears to be some variety of appeasement to those more familiar with the Teutonic flavor of most conservative blogs, but if you're implying that Rod is some sort of closet lib, you obviously haven't hung around here much.

AB, I certainly do not mean to argue your rebuttal, but I think we are talking about different things here. What keeps you sane in a combat theater? I think that is the question you just answered. It's a damn important question, and the better your answer, the better your chances of staying alive. But my statement implies a different question. What makes you decide to stay in a combat theater, go out on daily patrol or saddle up when called to join an active fire fight? I think "I'm following orders" is a good answer, but it's not all of it. You volunteered to do a job. You went through rigorous training. You passed tests of endurance, but also of commitment and responsibility. You are not just a soldier... The part that comes next, your personal statement of who you are and why you are there, that's the part that tells you and us what ideals you hold to in the face of death and pain. It's not, ever, oil or politics or any of that. It's something in your heart. So, all of that is in part my confession of cynicism in my initial statement about practical motivations and "selling" high ideals. Not that it wasn't obvious to you, but another part that you may not have considered is this: if you and I didn't share at least some of those ideals, you wouldn't have volunteered, and I wouldn't care if you did. Your expression of patriotism is being a soldier; mine is fulfilling my responsibility to make sure the practical reasons match the ideals, at least a little bit. You are not the target of that cynicism; I am, and our leaders are. We have both, to some extent, failed you.