We TOLD You So!!!

From Rod Dreher, Gen X Right-Winger:

My All Things Considered commentary

... As someone who came of political age under Reagan, I've been a conservative for most of my life... I disdained the Vietnam-era "hippie" mentality with regard to national security. I took it for granted that those people were hung up on Vietnam, and ought not be listened to because they were blame-America-first liberals... I formed my political views on national security in the confident glow of Reaganism. For me, it was a fact of life that Republicans were strong, capable and confident, and Democrats were weak, vacillating and incompetent (Carter's failed hostage rescue mission was the template).

When Bush led us into the Iraq War, I thought the liberals who predicted doom -- and, crucially, the conservatives (like Buchanan) who did as well -- were either fools, cowards or unpatriotic. But now I see that I was the fool. In the NPR piece, I wrote about how I sat there watching Bush's speech and thought that when they get old enough to understand these things, I have got to teach my children never, ever to take the word of presidents or generals at face value. To question authority, because the government will send you off to kill and die for noble-sounding rot (e.g., crusading for democracy in the Middle East). And it hit me that this is precisely the message that so many of those who lived through the Vietnam experience tried to tell my generation -- in my case, and in the case of so many other Gen X Reagan Youth, in vain.

I wonder if my kids will take me seriously in the future when I tell them what happened in this war, and how the Republican administration that their father believed in and voted for twice brought this country to this terrible place, through its mendacity and incompetence. Or will they think me a crank? Will they have to learn for themselves?

I am torn between complimenting the guy for being man enough to admit he was wrong or scolding him for being such a moron to buy into the "confident glow of Reaganism" crap. I guess I'll choose the latter, because Gen X was set up for Reaganism by forces beyond their control.

Learning by experience is hard, though. For those of us who can remember Vietnam it's Deja Vu All Over Again:

Deja Vu (All Over Again)

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio?
Did you try to read the writing on the wall?
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before?
It's like Deja Vu all over again

Day by day I hear the voices rising
Started with a whisper like it did before
Day by day we count the dead and dying
Ship the bodies home while the networks all keep score

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio?
Could your eyes believe the writing on the wall?
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before?
It's like Deja Vu all over again

One by one I see the old ghosts rising
Stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy
Where the light gets dim
Day after day another Momma's crying
She's lost her precious child
To a war that has no end

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio?
Did you stop to read the writing at The Wall?
Did that voice inside you say
I've seen this all before?
It's like Deja Vu all over again
It's like Deja Vu all over again

John Fogerty
C2004 Cody River Music / ASCAP