protesters vs. soldiers?

I can't say I was a huge fan of Democratic Georgian Zell Miller's speech at the RNC tonight. Like many democrats, I watched the speech with critical ears. One thing that stuck out and annoyed me was when he criticized protesters and compared them to soldiers.

Has he forgotten how this country was started in the first place? Has he forgotten about the Boston Tea Party? Has he forgotten about Thomas Paine? Has forgotten about the beginning of free press in America? Before anyone became a soldier in the Revolutionary War, they were PROTESTERS! They were groups of protesters that had had enough and decided to take physical action to obtain freedom.

Today's protesters are criticized for not having the balls to actually go into the military and fight. But, would you join the military to fight and possibly die for something you don't agree with? I wouldn't. America's original pre-Revolutionary war protesters became soldiers because they were fighting a war they believed in. For a cause they believed in. They chose to fight for the country they wanted.

Today, the protesters out there are against the war. Who of them would, in their right mind, join the military right now? They aren't out there protesting against the troops. They aren't out there protesting against America as a country. They are out there protesting the government.