Editor,
Larry Walsh's letter published in Monday's Daily Lobo makes a valid point about reading contracts: oral promises mean nothing, and you should read and understand a contract before signing, especially when you're signing up for the military.
However, he loses it in the final sentence, saying that criticism of recruitment tactics is criticism of the military, and that in a time of war, it is treason.
No, it is not.
The democracy and freedom those soldiers, including two of my nephews, are supposed to be fighting for, includes the ability to criticize our government, and that certainly includes our government's military.
The sacrifices of all those in our military, from the American Revolution until now, would be for nothing - and their deaths would be cheapened - by those who call freedom of speech treason. If we are truly free and live in a democracy, then we are free to criticize our government at any time.
You cannot pick and choose the time when freedom is allowed. If we have the freedom to criticize, then we must use it or we lose it. To give in to those who say we cannot criticize our government, its leaders or its military in time of war is itself seditious.
Freedom is more than a sacred word to be used to justify war. Freedom is the ability to speak your mind at all times. Freedom comes with a price, and it is not just the deaths of our warriors. The cost of freedom is also speaking out when you disagree, regardless of the consequences. Those who do so are every bit as heroic as those who die in battle.
Terry Mulcahy
UNM staff
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