So it seems anyways… with his recent comments that are directed at the Ottawa City Police force for placing the simple yellow “Support our Troops” on their cruisers.
Check out this article and this one for more details.
“We all support our troops, but that is not the debate,†he wrote. “Chief White has made it clear that these stickers show support not only for our troops, but for the mission in Afghanistan as well.â€
Here is my issue with this whole deal… First of all the “Support our Troops” decals, magnets and stickers are in support of our “Troops” around the world. That’s right around THE WORLD as apparently unbenounced to some people Canada’s troops aren’t just in Afghanistan (although it is obviously the most publicized mission at the moment). With this in mind it seems blatantly obvious that a Support our Troops sticker would then in fact also show support for our “troops” in Afghanistan… just troops though as it has NOTHING to do with the mission. Seems to me that Mr. Cullen has a personal issue with the new chief of the Ottawa Police and has decided to pick his bone with him by making a political issue out of something like whether or not Support our Troops stickers also mean support for the mission in Afghanistan. I think that Chief Vernon White placed these stickers on the cruisers in good faith, afterall police officers and our military personnel are like brothers. They all serve the people of this country and why wouldn’t you have one show support for the other.
Mr. Cullen has obviously missed the point and someone should certainly remind him of the great sacrifices that “OUR” troops have made over the years. As many of these sacrifices now allow us to enjoy the freedom and the privileges we have in our Country today.
Seriously Mr. Cullen wake up! Supporting our Troops isn’t about the mission in Afghanistan it’s about showing SUPPORT for the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who are members of our Canadian Military because they believe that they can make a difference thru serving our Country.
One response to “Ottawa City Counsellor Alex Cullen doesn’t Support our Troops?”
Dear Michelle,
There are no bad intentions in apposing the “support our troop” sticker on police cars. The only thing is this mixes up two powers that should stay independent of each other: political power (the power to make laws) and police power (the power to enforce law). The two powers should never be mixed because it leads to countries where political power is mixed up with police power, and this is generaly a bad thing. We need our politicians to be free from police power, and vice-versa. This means politicians should not wear police uniforms, and police should not wear “political messges”. Just like teachers are not allowed to give their personal opinion about politics in classrooms. At the personal level though, outside the classroom, outside the police car, outside the uniform and outside the policial process, everyone is free to think or wear what they want. But just not as part of their public jobs.
Another idea I’d like to share is that I truly believe that not only military personel make in difference serving our country, but also teachers, doctors, engineers, scientists, religious people, home builders, farmers, workers of all professions make a difference. And without them there is no point in having military personel. What about diplomats, philosophers and politicians? They are also contributing. The military personel is abroad because political power failed to resolve some problems. Does that make politcians less important? Why not support our politicians instead? Why not support our teachers so our politicians are better educated?