In response to my earlier post on the troubled relationship between Dems and the military, a smart Democrat with some involvement in these issues e-mails:
I should say, though, this doesn't happen often but I actually disagree with you on the substance of the post, at least in part. I don't think the fundamental problem between Dems and the military is over policy, but rather at a much more emotional level. I think a lot of military people are under the impression that Democrats in general think they're a bunch of baby-killing Rambo assholes. I'm not a big fan of viewing everything in politics through the prism of Vietnam, but I think that legacy of how vets were treated by the left is very much still there. It's something that our generation just never had, but go back not too long ago and it was a tremendously powerful narrative.So the "economic" stuff -- GI Bill, better health care, etc -- isn't really so much about money (or Tom Frank style remedies) as it is a proxy for a message of respect. The policies are good, of course, but it's the general idea of "we're going to fight for stuff that's good for you regardless of what actual war policy is" that's important. After all, if the divide were really one of policy, shouldn't the past eight years have forever exploded any connection between military attitudes/votes and Republicans?I do agree with, say, Heather's piece at the top level, among intellectuals or elites or whatever, but I think at the levels of voting and comfort it's more visceral feelings than concern over policy.
