I wrote recently about the school shooting in Perry, Iowa. I mentioned that I don’t have much experience with guns outside of shooting varmints on the farm. Someone posted on social media that since that was true, my opinions on gun control shouldn’t matter. By that logic, since I’ve never been in a war, I shouldn’t write about that either. So, take this with a grain of salt.
It’s easy to overinflate the significance of the current moment in time. What’s happening now is large and in our faces. That said, the Russian invasion of Ukraine will surely ripple into the future.
When Vladimir Putin decided that no number of deaths, Russian and Ukrainian, mattered to his twisted ego, the response was consistent and impressive. The democracies of the world rushed to back Ukraine and say, “This will not stand.” That response was led by the United States. That is as it should be. The United States is the leader of the Free World; with that comes great responsibility.
Now, some are apparently “bored” with that responsibility. United States’ support for the incredibly brave people of Ukraine is waning. If you follow these things, and you should, you know that with the decline in military aid, the tide is turning in Putin’s favor. It now appears likely he will have his way. We should all be afraid of the consequences of that. It will affect your grandchildren’s world in ominous ways.
This is a unique situation in that we are engaged in conflict without our soldiers on the lines. The Ukrainians are fighting for their homeland. But no one believes Putin is done with nation building. History shows that when thugs succeed, they don’t stop. One of these times, it will be our men and women on the front line.
As citizens, the only power we have in these matters is through our elected officials. Both our Senators have consistently supported Ukraine and voted in favor of the most recent aid package. It is a different story for our Representatives from southern Minnesota.
Last July, Michelle Fischbach and Brad Finstad were among seventy House members who voted in favor of cutting off all aid to Ukraine. Our Representatives were early in the group to abandon Ukraine. Then, they were in a minority of their party. Now most Republicans in the House are letting the Senate bill hang in the wind.
I don’t know Michelle. I’m a donor to Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, so I know of her husband who is Executive Director there. I know Brad a little. We have common friends. From everything I know, they are good people who have positively impacted our communities. I’m sure they would be good neighbors and would help shovel my car out from a snowbank.
But they are on the wrong side of this. In many ways, our region is a lot like Ukraine. There are farms with families working to make a living connected to the land interspersed with small towns. Schools, hospitals, churches look like ours. If we could speak Ukrainian, we’d fit right in. That makes it harder to understand the positions of our Representatives.
War is a terrible thing. I was just young enough to miss the Vietnam War. I had friends who didn’t miss it. Their lives were altered by that experience. My son spent six years in the Army National Guard, trained as a crew member in an Abrams tank. During that time, he was prepared to go to war if called. Our involvement in the Mideast had wound down so that did not happen. But I guess you could say I had skin in the game.
I have lived through war in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In each, what seemed like a good cause at first was met with harsh reality and increasing skepticism as time wore on. War is more complicated than we’d like. In hindsight, it’s questionable whether the United States should have sent soldiers to those places. I remember defending George Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq. I still think he had good intentions. Good intentions don’t get you far in war.
But there are times when the waters of war are not muddy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is one of those. There’s a clear aggressor and a clear victim. There was nothing surprising in the methods used by Putin’s forces. As in Chechnya, Georgia, and Syria, they began by bombing apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, and shopping centers.
That’s modern warfare as practiced by Vladimir Putin. He also has an advantage in that he doesn’t care how many Russian men are killed. It’s a strategy to send wave after wave of soldiers to deplete the other side’s munitions.
Among the far right in this country, there is a weird affection for Putin. That is because he is “strong morally.” As far as I can tell, that means that he persecutes gay people.
Opposite that person who will be reviled by history is Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At my age, I don’t have many heroes. Zelenskyy is one. On a purely emotional level, I want to be on his side. The times he stood before Congress, I was stirred.
As I said, Representatives Fischbach and Finstad were in a minority of their party last July when they voted to cut aid. Now that position has grown in the Republican Party. I know the polls show support for Ukraine slipping. But I really can’t believe most Americans upon reflection wouldn’t want us to stand with the coalition of nations opposing Putin.
There is no guarantee that funding will result in success for Ukraine. Perhaps a Russian victory could be delayed long enough for something untoward to happen to Putin. In the same way that bad things happen to anyone who opposes him.
Some have decided aid to Ukraine should be linked to immigration. Those two issues have absolutely nothing to do with each other. When those sorts of artificial connections are manufactured, that is purely “politics.” Immigration deserves attention. But giving solace to a dictator solves nothing on our border. Quit insulting us with that premise.
Opponents of aid to Ukraine might point to the cost. Can I offer up as an offset the billions of dollars that continue to flow to us farmers in subsidies? We have gotten that despite some of the most profitable farming years in history. The thousands I’ve received are hundreds of thousands for bigger farms. Give that to farmers who have real needs. Like clearing land mines from their fields.
In 1987, a member of Representatives Fischbach and Finstad’s party stood in Berlin and said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” It was one of the most significant events of the Twentieth Century. I can hear President Reagan in my mind now. It was a moment all Americans knew we were on the right side of history.
Thirty-seven years later, do we really want to say to Gorbachev’s successor, “Mr. Putin, have your way?” We’re better than that. I hope our representatives agree.