Barbara Boxer represents 38,000,000 people. Wrap your brain around that, particularly the word "represents." In the military, you're trained to say "yes, sir"/"no, sir" and "yes, ma'am"/"no, ma'am." It would be disrespectful, for instance, to say "yes, general," and in fact, I witnessed a young lance corporal get written up for saying, "yes, captain." So it is with complete ingnorance of military culture, and complete contempt for the military itself, that Senator Barbara Boxer scolded Brigadier General Michael Walsh for showing her respect by calling her ma'am and not any of a half dozen more fitting designations.

I also noticed that she didn't show him the respect of addressing him as 'General", a position I'm sure he earned, when she made her plea..

It would be disrespectful, for instance, to say "yes, general,"

during my 4+ years in the USMC i met a few Generals who actually prefer "General". they've heard sir for so long they get sick of it.

It's amazing to me that anyone would tolerate for a second an elected servant demanding to be addressed in an honorific manner. She should be impeached immediately.

Senators, Presidents, and other elected representatives are servants of the people in a functioning democracy. The polity is depoliticized and apathetic which helps to explain with the public tolerate this kind of ego-boosting garbage. We truly live in a democracy that is completely dysfunctional and unworthy of the name.

Pma,
We actually don't live in a democracy, we live in a representative republic. If we lived in a democracy, late term abortion (except to save the mother's life) and gay marriage would both be illegal. Also English would be the official language of the U.S. and George W. Bush would not have won the 2000 election. What I'm trying to say is "You're right!"