Tyranny is the subjugation of will

A vote is an expression of will. A voter, with a piece of paper and not with a gun, says this is how I choose to be governed. This is the kind of government to which I wish to submit. Such is the privilege of freedom.

Time has a way of smoothing down the bubbles. When we look back at all this years from now, I'm not sure what will fade more, the memory of triumphs like Thursday's elections, or the memory of hard times, such as the sadness for the lives lost.

We don't have to let memories fade, though. Part of safeguarding freedom is holding on to the realization of how precious it is. Thursday is but a step in a lengthy journey, but if we are wise, we will remember what it took to reach this point. We can reflect on what it means for a people once under the heel of a dictator to be choosing their own leaders. We can honor those who wrested this moment of freedom away from bloody murderers who want to cover us in darkness.

I posted this dispatch at the time of the October elections in Iraq. I think it still applies to Thursday's elections, so here it is again.

Today a vote is taking place in Iraq for which the various US government agencies have been working to establish and as you well know the US military has been doing to the hard work to actually implement it. Odd to think these folk have had to be prodded to this end, by force of bigger and more guns than the bad guys trying like demons to stop it, something we tend all too easily to take for granted when we have elections in the safety and comfort of good old USA.

I have been voting since I turned 18, proud of it, too. But I have never in my life in any election ever had to be concerned about getting blown up or killed while going to the polls (except for perhaps last years absentee balloting, but thats a technicality). Something one should well remember next election cycle. If you ever needed a dose of real life courage in action, go watch your news today. Men and woman with their families of children, going to vote. Knowing full the threats and risks in some areas. I can't imagine the monster who would try to kill the little old lady shakily walking to cast her vote but there are those here.

And despite their threats, the Bad Guys don't control all the ground and towns and they can't kill everyone so this vote will go off well. Especially in Kurdistan, where near 100% turnout is expected. That does and should rightfully shame us, my fellow Americans. Good men and woman struggled and sometimes died over the years to give you and I the ability to vote and we should not carelessly or lazily cast that right aside. In case you weren't aware, American voter turnout lately is around 40 to 60%. Disgraceful.

Well, the wheels of social evolution have turned much more slowly in the Middle East and for various reasons they have not reached the same level of social and political development as the more developed nations. And those in our national leadership have determined the way to secure our long term security and energy supplies is to help jumpstart the process of developing representative government in this, the arab MidEast, starting with Iraq.

Now, as you may have read in these long diatribes before, I don't usually discuss so much the whys and wherefores of how we got to this point. It's moot for a military man anyway, we must follow orders. We swore a sacred oath to follow orders and do our duty. We cannot simply quit the job if we don't like it.

I also want to remind you of the price paid for this mission. Had some more buddies killed and more wounded in the past few days that I know of, since we are in related units. They, like us all here, were doing their small part to help bring about this election. Trying to get us here to this point, so the Iraqis could vote in relavent security. That's not just a tough day at the office. They gave everything they could ever truly have in this world. Their life. Believe it. If not, go ask their families. Their widows. Or children, perhaps when they are older.

Any fellow countryman's casuality is cause for bereavement but as we all know, personal contacts are all the more striking. I don't recall the exact number of those my wife and I have known who have been killed or wounded in the past few years but I suppose it numbers towards a score or more?

Regardless, in this chosen profession, now that we have had open war raging the past few years, it is a weight that bears on my conscience knowing full well the grim reality of this duty. I don't know how past generations held up since many wars of the past had such huge casuality figures. Ours are relatively low. Of course, since this all started I have been part of an organization that has taken blunt casualities of which we are all aware. I doubt many of you have to deal with such events. One might go their whole career of vocation without having to deal with death or injuries at work. Well, we do. All the time. Thousands upon thousands.

In conclusion, I insist you remember these and others efforts over the course of history, especially when elections take place, when you consider not voting for whatever reasons you might contrive. By circumstance and happenstance, good folk will most likely die today trying have what you have that most of you were given by right of birth. Good Americans have paid hard trying to give Iraqis those 'Blessings of Liberty..." as well. Do not squander our good life. Participate in our country's government and community.

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linked to Stop the ACLU post on tyranny and the purple finger