Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 69

BommttieF^

65

moved by a sense of guilt over society's failure to act in keeping with
our moral nature. Kovic rejects the materialistic myth when he
understands that "He had never been anything but a thing to them, a
thing to put a uniform on and train to kill, a young thing to run
through the meat-grinder, a cheap small nothing thing to make
mincemeat out of."^^ The materialistic code is rejected when he
acknowledges the corrupt system that sent young men to Vietnam.
Military and political leaders are criticized as "small men with
small ideas, gamblers and hustlers who had gambled with his life
and hustled him off to the war."^^
The disabled veterans recognize they are the victims of
corruption, the result of a failed value system. Their heightened
awareness of the conflicting value systems leads them to seek both an
individual and a cultural shift in values. The success of this
transformation requires that the power elite be educated "to the
necessity of change through some sort of symbolic confrontation."^^
This confrontation occurs when anti-war veterans question the
government's decision to send young American soldiers to fight for
what they believe is an unjustified cause. This is the impetus for the
"Last Patrol," in which anti-war veterans journey across the United
States to the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami,
Florida.
Upon arrival in Miami, the veterans seek access to the
convention hall. Once inside, on the floor of the convention, Kovic
gains the attention of a television reporter and pleads for:
...just a moment of your compassion for the people who
are suffering in this war...I'm here to say that this war
is wrong, that this society lied to me and lied to my
brothers...[they] tricked them into going thirteen
thousand miles to fight a war against a poor, peasant
people, who have a proud history of resistance....!
can't find the words to express how the leadership of
this government sickens m e.^
Kovic discredits the U.S. government rationale for involvement in
Vietnam and argues that the war is morally wrong. He characterizes
American leaders as corrupt thieves, rapists and robbers. Speaking
out against the war inside the halls of the Republican National