Somewhere in Brick, and more than once I’m sure, I have opined that the reason the Iraq war has weak grassroots opposition is its distance from U.S. These thoughts are far, far from unique.
For one thing, the Pentagon prevents photos being taken of caskets of military personnel being brought back to America, among similar P.R. moves. The so-called embedding of journalists was clever. You too could be Ernie Pyle on the ground with troops, but that also diverted access to field commanders. This close-up view while vital for public knowledge also limited what information journalists could return to readers and viewers.
With an all-volunteer military in place for decades, people with more political influence felt the hurt less. Let’s say this less tactfully: Poorer families find much to recommend in their teen-age children enlisting. Families with middle incomes or better and more extensive educations did not need such opportunities as direly. Whiter, richer, better-connected people more often gain the attention of political leaders, and of the media as well.
A congressman or two has suggested archly that the draft be reinstated. That would bring the war home to a broader cross-section of America. That’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
Today’s Wall Street Journal reminded its readers, without saying it directly, there is another way to bring war into everyone’s face: rationing. You need to be a paid subscriber to download this so a summary will have to do (Journal-lists: It’s the March 5, 2007, “Deja Vu” column by Cynthia Crossen with the headline, “In Wartime Kitchens, Dinner Was Sculpted from Grains and Paste.”)
With supply channels cut off, and the army’s bottomless appetite for food and other essentials, the government [in 1942] was starting a mandatory rationing program, limiting access to basic foods such as sugar, cheese, butter, canned goods, coffee and … red meat. … One of the first foods to be rationed was sugar — each person got a half-pound, or about one cup, a week. (Per capita consumption of all sweeteners now is about four cups a week.) … Sugar was hoarded for special occasions, ‘and members of a family would put their sugar together to bake wedding cakes or holiday cookies.’ … Although ration amounts varied monthly depending on supplies, a general rule of thumb was that every person was entitled to ration coupons for a total of two and a half pounds a week of red meat, cheese, and butter and oils, which they could allocate as they liked. Poultry and fish were not rationed, and worse cuts of meat and internal organs cost fewer points.”
The column mentions hoarding and black market sales: Not everyone was self-sacrificing and patriotic. It notes rationing was more severe in Europe It concentrated on how families made do with substitutions and agencies pushed campaigns with happy names atop recipes for meat substitutes and the like. If the piece was broader, it would have noted that gasoline was rationed as well.
Can you imagine rationing in 21st century America? Think the temptation of cynicism and cheating would be stronger now than in World War II? It might not happen with food anytime soon, but the rationing of petroleum products is just an Iranian test nuke away. A little Google search found in 1942-45 three tiers of fuel rations, at 4 gallons and 8 gallons a week depending on why it was needed, and the top tier for doctors (who made house calls no doubt) was unlimited gasoline. (Oh, gas was rationed due to a rubber shortage, as in tires.) (Mainly from Cecil Adams’ The Straight Dope.) Also, the top speed, to increase mileage, was 35 mph.
Picture your Ford, a 10-mile one-way commute and eight gallons a week, Bubba. -30-
