First a picky point, ther Fugitive Slave Acts were not enforced by the military but by local law enforcement, bounty hunters, and the slaveowners themselves.
But the real question is, what attutude to take towards grunts who fight imperialist wars and may commit atrocities? The Boo-Hiss crowd here, liked you, Joanna, and Travis, seem to miss the basic Marxist point, that moralizing misses the point. The questionm si,w hat promotes goals of popular opposition to the wars and self-organizationm in opposing the wars? ANd the answer is, not moralistic superiority on the part of same-at-hime liberals and leftists about people who for the most part had to join the service because they were poor and then had to follow orders in dangerous places. If we want working class support, we better show respect and sympathy. Thanks wouldn't be out of place either, as long as it comes with anti-imperialist analysis, which probbaly is not too hard to see to most of the troops.
Maybe the grunts stand morally condemned in the eyes of God for being Bad. Leave that to God. Our problem is different. Why does it take a libveral democratic like me to point out this basic and obvious Marxist precept?
jks
--- joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> boddi satva wrote:
>
> >"There was once a law that upheld slavery in this
> country. Would you
> >thank the soldier who captured a runaway slave and
> returned him to his
> >owner?"
> >
> >
> >
> >Yeah, we actually split the nation in half over
> that question. You
> >know, when the troops in the South decided to take
> it on their own
> >authority to do what they thought to be the moral
> thing and defend
> >slavery. So, unless you are suggesting that we have
> a civil war over
> >the question of Iraq, it is not exactly an apt
> comparison.
> >
> You did not answer the question.
>
> Joanna
>
> >
> >
>
> > ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
__________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com