...   
      
    -> ...   
    ->   
    ->  FS> I disagree.  Lyndon Johnson's beloved Vietnam "war" caused a   
    FS> general   
    ->  FS> distrust of government, followed by a distrust of *all* authority.   
    ->  FS> Then the so-called "counter culture" came up with expressions later   
    ->  FS> dubbed "politically-correct", i.e., those expressions they agreed   
    FS> with.   
    ->   
    -> Here we agree. :)  Looking back I have no problem spotting just when   
    FS> most lost   
    -> faith with the government - and it's that damn VN war.   
    ->   
    -> I'd go even a bit farther in defining it:  The draft.   
      
    FS> I think it was the draft which especially bothered the draft-age kids   
    FS> -- and that's certainly understandable.  I thought the "war" was   
    FS> called-for -- at first.  I turned against it when I saw that most of   
    FS> the "North" Vietnam POWs were actually from the South.  Hence it was a   
    FS> civil war.  And I think the US should avoid all civil wars.  Let the   
    FS> "natives" fight it out.   
      
   I'd say avoid both civil and religious wars.  But seems we never learn.   
      
       
   ....   
      
    -> many young men fled to Canada, and was really the first time the powers   
    -> couldn't rally the masses to the cause. (What the hell ever that was?)   
      
    FS> That was the basic problem:  What WAS the cause??   
      
   After the K thing, a war not fought to a victory, I think most we becoming   
   aware that unless we're attacked, why are we spending blood and treasure in   
   these types of wars - a question still valid today BTW.    
      
    -> WWII had young men flocking to enlist - MOST did in fact, but of course   
    FS> others   
    -> waiting for the call from the friendly draft board. :)   
      
    FS> After the attack on Pearl Harbor the nation developed intense   
    FS> patriotism in most people -- and it lasted until the war ended, not   
    FS> like the brief patriotic flurry following 9/11.  Even *I* was jazzed-up   
    FS> with patriotism, so I volunteered to enter the Army.   
      
   You, and many others.    
      
    -> Next was the K thing.  Here the first wave was reserves called back,   
    FS> don't   
    -> recall a lot of enlisting, but of course the draft caught us.   
      
    FS> The Korean "war", sometimes called "The Forgotten 'war'", was never   
    FS> popular with the majority of the public, probably because "winning" was   
    FS> not seen as absolutely critical as winning WWII WAS!   
      
   Yup, war was to stop 'the spread of communism.'  Yet after 3 years of fighting   
   all we did was go back our side of the line.  I'll concede we might have   
   stopped it from spreading south, but we failed the next time with VN, and today   
   N Korea is still a pain in our ass.     
      
    -> Then the VN thing, and I'm at a loss to figure out just what happened   
    FS> there.   
      
    FS> I think it's known now that the North Vietnamese "navy" did NOT   
    FS> actually attack us as LBJ had falsely claimed.   
      
   Oh yeah, not our finest hour.   
      
      
      
       
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