H -°, L 22° | Tomorrow: 
H 23°, L 4°It’s tough to claim opposition to the concept of war on one hand while being supportive of the means through which war is funded and stockpiled on the other. This is a lesson one of the most, if not the most, rhetorically dovish members of the United States’ Senate, Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), is either ignoring or hasn’t contemplated in a critical manner as it relates to his support for a company called Oshkosh Corporation.
Before proceeding, it’s important to clarify just what the hell Oshkosh Corporation is. In its own words, located prominently on its website, “Oshkosh [Corp. is a] leader…in every truck market in which we compete, including defense…[and] hauling.” According to its webpage, Oshkosh Corp. earned a profit of $5.3 billion in 2009 and employs over 12,000 people worldwide. In short, Oshkosh Corp. is Wisconsin’s appendage of the military-industrial complex, and makes scores of trucks for military use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bear in mind that’s a hefty profit and those are numerous employment opportunities in bad economic times. While domestically the majority of our population is suffering from the nearly $1 trillion our government wastefully spends per year on “defense,” the war contractors love every minute of it. Nothing smells better than a fresh batch of cash, even if it comes at the expense of blown-off limbs, razed villages, dead civilians and flag-draped caskets coming home.
In a Feb. 12 press release written to celebrate the $3 billion contract signed between the Army and Oshkosh Corp., Feingold said, “Today’s decision is great news for the Oshkosh Corporation and its employees, who work every day to produce high quality vehicles and products for our armed forces. Wisconsinites are rightfully proud of Oshkosh Corporation. The Army’s decision shows that this Wisconsin company is the best company to provide these essential vehicles for our service members.”
This is an odd statement from the same man who, back on July 24, 2009, in The Nation Magazine accurately stated the Obama administration was “whistling past a graveyard” on the issue of mindlessly sending thousands of more troops to Afghanistan .
Despite this rhetoric, Feingold somehow applauds the funding of this company, when, according to his rhetorical opposition of the war on multiple occasions, he should be speaking in opposition to Oshkosh Corp — for without companies like it, the war wouldn’t be possible to begin with. Opposition to war in name only isn’t enough. Deeds are equally, if not more important. As it stands, Feingold’s applause of Oshkosh Corp. also qualifies as “whistling by the graveyard.”
It’s a shame because Feingold has a cult-like following, and when he says things, by-and-large his progressive constituents support and advocate for him. So I say with respect, and not disdain, that Feingold needs to step it up big time when it comes to true opposition of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The antiwar movement is desperate for a guy like Feingold to use the bully pulpit and speak in opposition to Oshkosh Corp.
Many more productive jobs for society, which are much less deadly, could be created with the money we spend on waging war, so the argument that to oppose Oshkosh Corp. is to oppose Wisconsin workers doesn’t hold its weight in a debate. With that same money we could employ people to build a national rail line that would help save the environment; we could be putting more money into improving our schools and paying teachers higher salaries; we could be opening factories to mass-produce electric cars. The point is, there are few jobs less productive and more dangerous for society than working for a war contractor, and those same bodies could be used to do things that actually enhance humanity rather than diminish it.
However, let’s not forget, this isn’t only Feingold. Wisconsin’s left hasn’t been pushing him to step up and lead the charge against Oshkosh Corp. I’d even venture to say few of his liberal supporters have even heard of it. The left hasn’t been pestering him about it at his listening sessions, they haven’t been lobbying him or his staff in his offices about it and they haven’t been badgering his offices with calls about it. Although he could take some initiative on his own since he is one of the few in Congress who has spoken out against the wars, a little nudge on the side appears compulsory at this point.
It will take both citizens and Feingold working together hand-in-hand to stop the government’s funneling of money to Oshkosh Corp. Doing so would be a huge symbolic step in ardent opposition to the organization, and a big win for the antiwar movement’s ultimate goal — ending the wars and bringing home our troops as soon as possible.
Steve Horn ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and legal studies.
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Steve. I’ll try to keep this brief. You can oppose a war without opposing the soldiers. You can oppose a war without opposing war in general.
Maybe it’s being part of the ‘media’ but you have somehow extrapolated that Feingold is a pacifist from the fact that he opposes the Iraq war and wants out of Afghanistan.
This isn’t hypocrisy, this is you being a little bit slower than usual.
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Hell yeah Steve! I’ve got to agree, you can’t pull punches when people are dying. Although it’s a sad fact that the anti-war movement is indeed ‘desperate’.
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Your argument is absolutely ridiculous. Our state’s Senators are supposed to oppose all forms of military spending as well as any and all companies who provide military-related goods? Arguing against the United States’ current wars abroad (and any specific engagement, for that matter) is perfectly reasonable. However, to make claims such as yours is irresponsible and ignorant.
Oshkosh Corporation will manufacture several different vehicles for the United States military, one of which is the Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicle that, because of its revolutionary design, is estimated to save hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans in the line of duty. In addition to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, such vehicles will also be deployed for peacekeeping missions in places such as the Balkans, Sudan, and Haiti.
To argue against armed military conflict is within the realm of responsible citizenship; however, to lambaste a Senator and a company for providing vehicles designed to maximize safety for those citizens who are serving our great nation is disgraceful. You should be genuinely ashamed of your character and I can only hope more people speak up against such reprehensible commentary.
Andrew Peters [email protected]
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Idiot - they did not earn a “profit of $5.3 Billion. Do your homework you hack.
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While I may agree with the author’s desire for the Senator to use his position to oppose the war, it is naive to think that opposing Oshkosh Corp. will somehow facilitate ending the wars. Your target is all wrong. If not Oshkosh Corp, then some other, perhaps foreign, manufacturer. And your right, it would only be symbolic.
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Wake up progressives, Feingold is not for you and he never was. It’s fine to take a stand against the Patriot Act when Bush was in power, but now that Obama is in power the Patriot Act was allowed to pass through easily, where was Russ? A true progressive would have also been against the current version of health care reform that only serves to line insurance companies pockets, where was Russ? Feingold is a self-serving Washington politician, end of story. Wake up!
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Your comment
“for without companies like it (Oshkosh Corp), the war wouldn�t be possible to begin with”
is so naive. The wars will still be there as long as there are major differences in the world and as long as there are fanatics. How many wars has history of mankind seen, while there was no company like Oshkosh Corp. Also, just to remind you, Oshkosh Corp makes logistics vehicles that help soldiers get supplies and keep them safe. It does not make arms and ammunitions. Get your facts. If anything, Oshkosh Corp help America have an edge in a war and does not create a war as you are implying. I expected more educated article from UW Madison !
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Im not even for the war and this is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read. If the Army does not buy trucks from OSK then they’ll buy them from the competitors - BAE, Navistar, Force Protection, etc….
In addition, Oshkosh isnt waging the war, but they are building vehicles to protect the troops. Would you rather have our soldiers on the front lines in outdated, inferior equipment? They can continue to patrol the areas in the Humvees and get destroyed by IEDs if that’s what you’d prefer
Perhaps we should start scolding Ford for building police cars. Without those, there would be no crime, right?
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You need to get your facts straight about Oshkosh Corporation. The “profit” of $5.3 billion for 2009 was actually the sales revenue for 2009 - not profit.
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They actually had a net loss of $1.1B. Everything else Stevie says is now suspect to accuracy. Real quick way to lose credibility like Feingold.
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Oshkosh builds MUCH more than just military vehicles, as you almost try to admit in one of your paragraphs, but instead, you pretend that doesn’t exist and focus solely on the military division. You have the makings of a great future politician, btw. Yes, Oshkosh is a successful Wisconsin company, mainly because they chose to diversify their product line. It just so happens that the military line is doing the best currently, but in the better economy, their construction and emergency vehicle divisions make up for a lagging military division.
So, is your next poorly-researched article going to go after arms manufacturers? Bullet producers? How about the companies that make the uniforms and body armor? Yes, war is not pretty, nor desirable, but our soldiers need to be prepared and given the proper tools to succeed. Some company has to supply those tools. Oshkosh just happens to be part of that puzzle. In an election year, Feingold made the best political decision for himself; not supporting Oshkosh would have been suicide to his political career in this state, (career politician being a good jumping-off point for another article, hint-hint).
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Dude, stop trying to be that guy from Rolling Stone. Not even close. Also, profit and revenue are two very different things. Oshkosh actually lost $1.1 million last year and it’s cumulative net income over the last three years is negative.
We should be applauding Oshkosh for successful American manufacturing in the face of cheap international labor. Look at the consumer auto companies - it’s not easy to produce products in America when you could feed someone in Thailand a bowl of rice to work 12 hours for you.
As for building a national rail line, I’m sure Oshkosh employees would rather have the millions of unemployed Americans receive the chance to work on that project.
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It’s clealy apparent that you have absolutely no knowledge of finance, nor do you understand the nature of what Oshkosh does… Sounds like you’d fit right in at FOX News, moron. PS, your folks must be really proud to see you using that well-rounded education you’ve been receiving from UWM…
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As an employee of Oshkosh Defense I am extremely appalled with your lack of knowledge of stuff going on outside of Madison. Sure you may have attended the UW and got some degree or something like that.
Do you know how many people Oshkosh Corporation employs in the Oshkosh area? Have you ever considered or even had a twinkling idea of what would happen to Oshkosh and the surrounding area when 7000 people lost their job? Sure you gave options for where they could go to work to better the environment. How long would those take to begin? How long would these 7000 people have to be on unemployment before they would have said jobs you proposed?
Forgetting the fact that Oshkosh Corporation is the parent company to smaller segment industries included Peirce, Medtec, JLG, McNeilus… without those markets we wouldn’t have a majority of our fire trucks, municipal and airport, ambulances, concrete mixers, aerial lift equipment. Putting even more people out of jobs because they don’t have the necessary specialized equipment to complete their jobs efficiently and safely.
I stuck up for everyone working for Oshkosh Corporation when I say that you need to do some more research to better validate your opinion.
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You are really an idiot Steve. I have a friend who works for Oshkosh selling their commercial vehicles, which are used in the asphalt and concrete industries. let’s stop supporting strong american companies like DuPont, Caterpillar, Oshkosh, Colt, because they are supplying the war effort. do you want to see people suffer under muslim extremism? that makes you unamerican steve.
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Mr. Horn, why do you choose to continue writing for this paper? After the publishment of the holocause denial ad, do you think that as a jew you should resign or at least not work until the ad is removed and an apology is made??? Or should you stay put, and write another awesome article criticizing birthright? How about writing one about how awful coasties are on our campus.
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Retraction ahoy.
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Before you rip on Oshkosh Corp you should be aware of a few tidbits. First, Oshkosh Corp. has been a leader in building transportation that protects soldiers from roadside blasts — the #1 preferred weapon of terrorists. Their vehicles are designed to deflect the blasts out and away from the occupants. Second, they are a leader in smart drivers that allow on-board and/or remote computers to operate the trucks — freeing up the need for drivers. Third, none of Oshkosh Corp’s products are direct weapons platforms; they are only used to transport people and material as safely as possible.
I am no friend of the military-industrial “entrepreteers” but I can tell you Oshkosh vehicles are important whether we are in Iraq and/or Afghanistan or not. When you take a serious look at Oshkosh vehicles missions, I hope you will understand why hawks and doves alike favor them.
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So reporters and columnists no longer need to cite their sources when writing their articles?