BlackFive

I don't agree w/ Peter Beinart much on policy, but he is w/o a doubt one of the better people on the left. He is often paired w/ Jonah Goldberg for debate and it is consistently high quality. He has a piece today at the Daily Beast that says some things it would be nice to hear more liberals say. He is discussing a potential Obama Supreme Court pick Elena Kagan and her sorry decision to ban military recruiters from Harvard while she was Dean.

If Solicitor General Elana Kagan gets the nod, conservatives will beat the hell out of her for opposing military recruitment on campus when she was dean of Harvard Law School. And liberals should concede the point; the conservatives will be right.....

The United States military is not Procter and Gamble. It is not just another employer. It is the institution whose members risk their lives to protect the country. You can disagree with the policies of the American military; you can even hate them, but you can’t alienate yourself from the institution without in a certain sense alienating yourself from the country. Barring the military from campus is a bit like barring the president or even the flag. It’s more than a statement of criticism; it’s a statement of national estrangement.

Well said Mr. Beinart. His entire piece does an excellent job of explaining this concept and who knows, it may wake up a few folks on that side of the fence. I think that sadly too many of them are in the F John Kerry camp that believes the military is where we send all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in his beloved liberal elite. That said it is still heartening to read a piece like that at a place like the Daily Beast.