[Vision2020] Of, By & 4

[lfalen]

Exactly right Paul.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: Paul Rumelhart godshatter at yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:54:46 -0800
To: Donovan Arnold donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Of, By & 4

> Donovan Arnold wrote:
> > "Refused a leadership position based
> > solely on his beliefs" would be another.
> >  
> > That is OK with me. Most people are not leaders. Their ability to 
> > relate to the group, understand the group, think like the group, and 
> > be looked up to by the group is an important part of being the group 
> > leader. I could accept a group leader of the basketball team, or at 
> > work as an atheist. But not a person that was to lead the nation, or 
> > to lead me to a potential death. I would not want to die in a fox hole 
> > with an atheist, it would be a lonely death to me. My belief in God is 
> > a big part of me, and how I think of what is right and wrong, and what 
> > decisions I make. An Atheist rejects that part of me, and I just could 
> > not follow someone that rejected such an important part of who I am as 
> > a person. 
> 
> This is the military we are talking about.  Nowhere in my leadership 
> classes at the Naval Academy do I remember being taught that you must 
> conform to the beliefs of the men you lead to be effective.   This isn't 
> a basketball game; if you refused an order by  a superior because they 
> "rejected such an important part of who you are" by having beliefs 
> outside of the scope of the job, I'd expect you to be disciplined.  It's 
> been a number of years, maybe I slept through that lesson.
> 
> They should be choosing a leader based upon a large number of things, 
> but religious belief (or lack thereof) is definitely not pertinent.  If 
> you can't respect a leader because they don't share your faith, then 
> *you* have a problem.
> 
> >  
> > "He probably has bought into the fallacy that the US government is
> > supposed to care about inequality, prejudice, and other such topics."
> >  
> > The military does care about those things, it defends them by 
> > defending this nation. However, it does not operate on the principle. 
> > Its mission is to protect the United States. It is not about equal 
> > opportunity employment. It is about making decisions that are best for 
> > the defense of this nation, that is the only real concern because 
> > there would not even be a country without the military discriminating 
> > against who it has a leaders and soldiers.
> 
> And I would hope like hell that they are looking at criteria other than 
> what they put down for their religion when they signed up.  Perhaps such 
> things as fitness, performance, confidence, experience, etc.  If someone 
> gets promoted who does not measure up over other possible candidates 
> merely because they have beliefs in common with the group, then they are 
> weakening this country in the process.
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
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