Most Democrats Say They’d Flee, Not Fight, a Ukraine-Style Invasion Too many Americans have forgotten the meaning of ‘home of the brave.’
Wall Street Journal ^ | 3/10/22 | Matthew Hennessey
Posted on 3/14/2022, 1:18:11 PM
A liberal is someone too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel. That old joke rushed to mind as I read the results this week of a Quinnipiac University survey indicating that, well, it isn’t really a joke. There are more sunshine patriots in our midst than anyone realized.
The pollster asked: What would you do if you were in the same position as Ukrainians are now, stay and fight or leave the country? Shockingly, more than half of Democrats (52%) said they would cut and run if the U.S. homeland were invaded. We aren’t talking about women and children, or even some cadre of pacifists and conscientious objectors. This is most Democrats saying they’d rather leave America than defend it. Only a pathetic 40% said they would stick around.
Republicans did better. More than two-thirds (68%) said they would stand their ground. This could be a reflection of the partisan skew in the nation’s distribution of small arms. But 1 in 4 Republicans said they’d flee—not exactly the don’t-tread-on-me spirit I was expecting.
What in the hell has happened to this country? One can hardly imagine Americans of yesteryear exhibiting such high levels of yellow-bellyism. Where have all the Minutemen gone? The Molly Pitchers? The Audie Murphys? The Todd Beamers?
In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and 9/11, when the nation was on its knees, the call was answered without hesitation by rock-ribbed Republicans and true-blue Democrats alike. Even the turbulent Vietnam era didn’t inspire such pusillanimity. Between 1964 and 1973, 2.2 million Americans were conscripted into military service. Another 15 million were granted deferments for one reason or another. Less than 2% of those who were eligible for the draft opted to evade it, either by going underground or emigrating.
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