January 02, 2004

HOWARD DEAN: MORAL EXEMPLAR

        At one point during my stint from 1967-1969 as a Navy physician, I was assigned the task of evaluating the psychological state of young men seeking draft deferments. This was at the height of the Vietnam war. It was common knowledge at that time that all sorts of feigned illnesses would be presented in an effort to avoid service. By far the most common were 1) “back problems” and 2) mental illness. Usually, the latter would be employed if the former didn’t work. Often the first complaint would be accompanied by X-rays showing various spinal anomalies. Those like Howard Dean who had been pre-Meds, were generally sophisticated enough to obtain supporting letters from physicians, and they were well rehearsed in reporting the history and symptoms of crippling back problems. Because proving a negative, i.e. that most frequently there are no crippling effects of the various minor spinal anomalies, is time consuming and difficult, and since pain is a subjective state, not to be debated, it was fairly likely that they would sail right through to their deferment. The more fortunate, like Howard Dean, found those deferments magically cured their back problems, just in time to take to the ski slopes of Aspen. As a psychiatrist, one is generally inclined to assume that the people one sees are struggling to be as honest and open as possible. It was quite a shock to deal with people who were consciously dissembling. Some were more skilled at it than others, but sometimes, if one expressed skepticism, a fall-back position would be adopted: “Doc,” they’d mumble, “I’m really homosexual,” or “Doc, I hear voices speaking to me and threatening to kill me.” Delusional thoughts and hallucinations appeared with especially high frequency among Ivy Leaguers and Park Avenue dwellers. I remember impatiently asking one of these young men if it bothered him that in all likelihood his place would be taken by someone from far less privileged circumstances. His reply: “Stop the war.” Thus did he absolve himself of responsibility for anything beyond his own wishes. Meanwhile, back on the surgical ward, I spent time with wounded and traumatized kids who told me extraordinary tales of courage, fear, danger, duty and, above all, honor.
        Fast forward some 30+ years and one might think, out of a sense of shame or guilt, the Howard Deans of this world would refrain from moralizing about war and its human costs. No such luck. Dr. Dean thinks he can revisit Vietnam via the Iraq war, and believes that utopian fantasies are still more worthwhile than force of arms when dealing with our enemies. It’s true that the 1960’s “peace” protests eventually hastened the end of the Vietnam war. However as George Orwell once said: “The fastest way to end a war is to lose it” and the triumph of the peace movement led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents at the hands of a monstrous totalitarian regime. The aftermath of our withdrawal from Vietnam is rarely mentioned, certainly not by those who comprised the anti-war movement in its heyday. One wonders, did Howard Dean’s year on the ski slopes give him greater appreciation for the realities of war than a year of military service might have done? Or does the fact that others fought in his place require him to retroactively justify on high moral grounds that earlier evasion of responsibility? Whatever the explanation, whenever he works himself into a high dudgeon vs. the Bush administration’s war lovers, my thoughts will be with those of his generation who did their duty while he was partying in Aspen.

Posted at 01:54 PM by