The Evaluation Component of Stasis Theory in "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore"

     Phil Ochs in his 1965 song, "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore", utilizes the evaluation component of the stasis theory to argue against the validity and worth of fighting the war on both on an individual and national level. Ochs takes the position of an American soldier who is asking even with "all we've won with the saber and the gun…is it worth it all?" He alludes to previous American battles in order to support his argument to the ineffectiveness of war.  He sings "it's always the young to fall," and this statement itself provides the song's stasis as to there being no valid reason to keep fighting and sacrificing young men's lives. 

     This stasis of evaluating the Vietnam War and concluding that it be best that both soldiers and the country stop fighting can be paralleled to news anchor Walter Cronkite's 1968 Vietnam Commentary (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106775685). Cronkite states "we've been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders", which is similar to Ochs's characterizing politicians as the "old [that] lead [them] to the war." Both statements are stating the same thing: that politicians are making the wrong call on US involvement in war, especially since they are putting soldiers' lives on the line.  Cronkite also suggests that the Americans back out of the war as "honorable people…who did they best they could." From a soldier's point of view, Ochs suggests the same thing through his repetition of "I ain't marching anymore." It is interesting to see how Ochs's song is saying the same things as Cronkite, though written three years earlier. As argued in his song, Ochs, like Cronkite, believes that fighting in the war is in fact not worth it on an individual and national level, and that it is best that both soldiers and the country stop involving themselves in war.