Today is Veterans Day. I am loathe to mix politics with such a solemn holiday, but the column was pre-written and scheduled for this day.
I honor and celebrate our soldiers, and support their missions with all my being. One retired soldier I wish to pay homage to is my friend Snooper. He was one of the first people that reached out to me when I was a new blogger. Happy Veterans Day Snooper.
Other friends that deserved to be mentioned on such a serious holiday are those at Vets For Freedom, Soldiers Angels,and Sempermax.
http://www.vetsforfreedom.org/
http://www.soldiersangels.com/
My dad is a veteran. I wish him a peaceful day.
Yet one week ago, we had an election. For republicans, we lost. There are many silver linings, but the main one is that we are alive and free. Soldiers put their lives on the line. Losing an election by comparison is nothing. I am sure John McCain would agree. Give him a tip of your cap today.
While the 2008 Election was a dreadful experience for republicans, there is plenty to celebrate even in these worst of times.
Of course I am disappointed with the results. Of course I prefer being in the majority and actually governing than be reduced to minority status. Yet even this election had some reasons for me to smile, or at the very least, be relieved.
The best aspect of Barack Obama being President is who will not be President. As tough as it is for a party to win three straight elections, winning four in a row is virtually impossible. Had we won in 2008, we would have almost certainly gotten our clocks cleaned in 2012. Had Barack Obama lost, the successful nominee for the Democratic Party in 2012 would have been Hillary Clinton.
Hillary is finished. This is cause for massive celebration. There is nothing Obama could do that would be as awful as what Hillary would do. Obama may be wrong on issues, but at least he treats his opponents as human beings. Hillary believes republicans are enemies, and a Presidency with her would be pure poison. There will not be another Democratic party nominee until 2016, when Hillary would be 68 years old. She may also be facing the same difficulty that John McCain faced in 2008, that being an attempt at winning a third straight election for the party. America is safe. She is done.
Another delightful occurrence of an Obama Presidency is the political death of racial hustlers Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. The men that J.C. Watts referred to as “poverty pimps,” have beaten up their last political hookers. Watching Jesse Jackson cry upon Obama being elected was sheer joy. This man was not crying tears of joy. He was crying at knowing that his own relevance, which should have never existed, had finally been extinguished.
Jesse can claim that he and Martin Luther King just wanted to overcome, but Dr. King never threatened to castrate another black man. Barack Obama managed to balance a political career without abandoning his family. Jesse Jackson found time away from the campaign trail to raise two families with two separate women.
As for Al Sharpton, he can begin hawking Jenny Craig. The last thing Obama wants are riots between Jews and blacks, which seems to be the only skill that Al Sharpton seems good at fomenting.
Who are Jackson and Sharpton going to protest to? What will they do, take it straight to the top? The black man has reached the top, and he did it by not being a racist and an anti-Semite. What an amazing concept.
Yet if the defanging of a nasty woman and a pair of black criminals are reason to smile, then the gay community should leave republicans absolutely jubilant.
I am personally pro-gay rights, but every time I try to support them, they open their mouths and push me in the other direction. I have always believed in the philosophy of “be gay and shut up.” They can’t do it.
In 1992, Bill Clinton wanted to talk about health care. Instead the beginning of his Presidency was bogged down with a furor over allowing gays in the military. The gay community has made rapid advances in recent years. They are closer than ever to getting everything they want. Yet they can’t just shut up. They are determined to eat their own.
Barack Obama wants to deal with the economy. He wants to focus on issues that unite Americans. The last thing he wants is to wade into the culture wars. I know that gay people think that everybody on Earth agrees with them, and that anybody opposing them is a bigot, but when even California does not support gay marriage, they might wish to slow down. Again…Even California said no to gay marriage.
So what are gay people doing? They are rioting in the street. Now I could care less about most activist issues. I just despise people that block traffic. I had an extra long commute home from work the other day because the streets were overrun by a screaming gay mob. This is not the way to appeal to the moderate middle. Will these people have the common sense to leave Barack Obama alone for the first few weeks? Of course not. Republicans should sit back and watch the gay community cannibalize one of their supporters.
Now Obama could show political courage and have the guts to admit that he really does support gay marriage. That is a non-starter. He is a liberal. Political courage and liberalism are mutually exclusive.
This country has been on a rightward drift since Barry Goldwater lost in 1964. It moved further in 1980. Despite the liberals convincing themselves in 1992 that they were going to change the world whether it wanted to be changed or not, by 1994 order had been restored.
Conservatives need to be patient. On Veterans Day, just remember that the moment the liberals try to look the troops in the eye and explain why they are surrendering in Iraq and slashing the military budget, the pendulum will shift again.
Liberals can whine and cry all they like about how much they love the troops. If they do, they should listen to them for once in their myopic lives.
The troops will continue to perform in a noble and brilliant manner, and as soon as the democrats are done cannibalizing each other as they always do, the troops will have a government that actually supports them emotionally and financially.
eric
We don’t have enough holidays. Veterans day used to be Armistice Day, marking the end of WWI. You’d think that would deserve a holiday in and of itself. That was one bloody war. We have no holiday for the end of WWII. That’s strange. After all, WWII was really, really bloody. You’d think the resolution of such horrific things would be cause for holidays in and of themselves.
I’m with Kurt Vonnegut. They should have left Armistice Day as it was. Nothing against celebrating veterans, but like Lisa Simpson said; “They have two holidays.” Though, to be fair, Memorial day is for those who died, while Veterans Day is for those who survived as well. I just think they should have given Veterans a separate holiday and left Armistice Day as it was. That’s the kind of history we really should never forget. That’s why we should celebrate the VE and VP days as holidays too.
And it’s more than just the vets who win or lose wars. There’s the Homefront. In WWII, America’s Homefront was mobilized as never before. Without the participation of all the people, the war may well have been lost, and the world today would be a much different place. We should celebrate that too. If we had mobilized just a tenth of the people for our latest wars they probably would have been long since resolved by now. But when hardly anyone wants to fight and no one wants to pay, wars aren’t going to go well.
I think it’s in rather poor taste to inject politics into these sorts of holidays. Whatever one’s political persuasion, we all have a deep respect for our veterans’ service. Just because “liberals” like me would like to end the war in Iraq (and never thought it was a good idea to bother with it in the first place), that means no disrespect to our soldiers. And just because we want to rein in the American empire, that doesn’t mean we have something against the soldiers sworn to enforce it. I don’t like “Free Trade” but I worked in trade for many years. I’m sure there are lots of liberal soldiers (I know quite a few) who would prefer we were less of an aggressive military empire, but they just keep quiet in the Dr. Strangelove atmosphere of todays military. Should we only celebrate soldiers who agree with us, regardless of their efforts? That would be wrong.
JMJ
PS: If I didn’t know you any better, I’d swear this post was just chock full misogyny, racism and homphobia. I’ll never understand why women, blacks and gays are such big issues with the Right. No wonder you guys are in decline. We have real issues out there and all you guys do is whine and moan about people who barely even have anything to do with you.
Jersey there used to be two holidays to commemorate the end of WWII, They were V-E Day and V-J Day. Like many other holidays they were combined and renamed and today we have Memorial Day.
This column was neither misogynist or racist. It was anti-Hillary, Anti-Jesse, and Anti-Al. You can be opposed to those specific individuals without hating the entire group. AS far as homophobic he was riot phobic and mostly upset about the traffic delays. He like I voted against proposition 8. However lets get real about what that proposition was and wasn’t. I think BOTH sides blew it out of proportion. It did not take any civil rights away form ANYONE. Gays can still have all the rights of straight married couples. They are called domestic partnerships in this state and have been legal since 2003. The only thing this proposition did was say they couldn’t us the word marriage to describe that legal state. So the ramifications of it passing are minor. As the ramifications of defeat of the proposition would have been just as minor. It would merely allow them to use the term. It was more symbolic than anything. I repeat, I voted AGAINST the measure, as did Eric. So stop using using pejoratives where they are not warranted.
As far as liberals who support and are in the military I agree there are many. I won’t say you are not one of them However you have to admit there are far more who loathe the military and its members. They give lip service to “supporting the troops” but never stop to accuse them of murder and torture at the first opportunity and paint all with the same brush. The deride them as stupid and blood thirsty cretins who could not make it anywhere else. I have heard a lot of that sentiment over the years and unfortunately its widespread on the left.
I need to correct the record.
I did not vote against Proposition 8. I did not vote for it. I was neutral. I wish both sides would just shut up. I detest activists, and stay out of the culture wars. I could have voted no, but after being accosted by angry gay rights activists that held up signs comparing Bush and Palin to Hitler and the devil, I stayed neutral.
I am a perfect example of somebody being pushed away from a view I could have supported.
The whole point of my column is that liberal activists are the best friends republicans could ask for. May they speak loudly and often, especially when fighting amongst themselves.
It was not republicans that defeated Prop 8. It was black Obama supporters.
eric
“I’ll never understand why women, blacks and gays are such big issues with the Right. ”
Because you guys make it that way.
We are usually playing defense on these issues cuz of the left.
Get it right.
Parrot,
Memorial Day goes way back before WWII. It was first about the Civil War. I don’t know where you got that history from.
“This column was neither misogynist or racist.”
I didn’t say it was. I said, “If I didn’t know you any better, I’d swear this post was just chock full misogyny, racism and homphobia.” I’m just saying that if I was a first time visitor to this site, I may take some of what Eric wrote to be a little off-putting. My point was to suggest that perhaps there’s better ways of expressing these sorts of things – or better yet, not bother to in the first place. I just think you guys are just wasting your time and making needless enemies.
“The only thing this proposition did was say they couldn’t us the word marriage to describe that legal state.’
Yes. I know. More needless nastiness that has nothing to do with you, or Eric, or anyone else who suported it. Again, why you bother, I just don’t know…
“I won’t say you are not one of them However you have to admit there are far more who loathe the military and its members.”
Parrot, growing up in the NY area I knew more liberals than you could shake a stick at – please believe me, I don’t know anyone who loathes the service people in general (no pun intended). The Military Establishment? Yeah, sure. I think they’re a giant, sucking, dangerous, political welfare state. Our Founding Fathers would be appalled. Mark my words, like every other great empire in history, that giant, sucking, dangerous, political welfare state will eventually be the end of us.
JMJ
“please believe me, I don’t know anyone who loathes the service people in general ”
That doesnt mean that the’re not out there.
I dont know any code pink members, but they’re out there.
“political welfare state will eventually be the end of us.”
Without it you would more than likely be dead.
And if I’m deciphering this correctly you are saying that our troops are drawing pay for doing nothing ?
Its the wrong day to be showing your ass Jersey.
“That doesnt mean that the’re not out there.”
Yeah, well, Micky, there are people who think all sorts of stupid things. What’s your point? The vast majority of everyone I know and have ever known have no problem in general with service people – liberal or conservative, left or right, Democrat or Republican, Wiccan or Jewish, whatever.
“Without it you would more than likely be dead.”
Oh, give it a rest. We don’t need a constantly standing military that costs more than every other one in the world combined to keep us alive. That’s just silliness.
“And if I’m deciphering this correctly you are saying that our troops are drawing pay for doing nothing?”
Micky, please, do me a favor – do not “decipher.” I meant that the Military Establishment – the popularly called “Military Industrial Complex” – as Eisenhower warned us, is a very dangerous thing. Our Founding Fathers knew this. Ike knew it. I know it. A lot of people know it. It becomes an entrenched political interest that uses war and fear and a welfare state to perpatuate and justify itself. The “welfare state,” as a sociological term, in this case refers to a constituency that is completely dependent upon the public dole. It makes no money. It is not a viable private interest. Ironically, it is proof of the positives of Keynesian theory. From the military we attain many periheral and direct social benefits, from education, to medicine,, to all sorts of science and math, to infrastructural improvements, etc.
I, like the vast majority of “liberals,” would never argue that there shouldn’t be a military. just that it shouldn’t be so large.
As for that last line – Micky, it’s not me being an @$$. try not to “decipher” what you want and make an honest effort to take me at the correct face value. I’m not a blathering idiot.
JMJ
“Parrot, growing up in the NY area I knew more liberals than you could shake a stick at – please believe me, I don’t know anyone who loathes the service people in general”
Well growing up in California as an Air Force Brat I can tell you I have met many many who had lots of bad things to say about members of the military in general. This was especially true throughout the ’70s. Democratic leadership just talks about how they are torturing and murdering civilians at will overseas, yet they support the troops while slandering them.
“More needless nastiness that has nothing to do with you, or Eric, or anyone else who suported it.”
Can you read. I have said several times, including TWICE in this post the I voted AGAINST the amendment. Eric said he didn’t vote on it at all. That means NEITHER of us SUPPORTED it.
“Mark my words, like every other great empire in history, that giant, sucking, dangerous, political welfare state will eventually be the end of us.”
How you can say that with a straight face when you advocate enlarging the welfare state for the rest of society is beyond me. These folks are giving away their liberty and putting their life on the line to protect the rest of us. The rest of the defense industry exists to assure they are victorious and return home safely. Are there excesses, of course there are in every industry, but at least this industry’s prime function is to keep us safe from harm. If you don’t think the money invested in defense strengthens the economy and leads to incredible innovations you are very misinformed. Far more so than things like make work projects which didn’t help the economy in the 30’s. It took WWII and the military-industrial complex to get us out of the depression.
Parrot, this ain’t the seventies. And from what I understand, most of those Nam-Vet-abuse stories are myth.
Okay, so you didn’t support Porp 8. My apologies (seriously – no snark!). I missed that somehow. I actually knew it, but wasn’t concentrating enough when I wrote that sentence. I should probably write a little less extemporaneously. My bad.
I do not advocate enlarging “the welfare state” in and of itself. That would be simplistic.
As for the ridiculous military – I stand by Ike. He was right. History is on his, and my, side. I am not arguing the Keynesian positives of a military. I specifically pointed that out. I am arguing that we have a needlessly dangerously large military empire and it could well be the ruin of us for all sorts of valid, historic, proven reasons. Do you know why I would say that? Try addressing the argument on that level, because if you know any history, you know exactly what Ike was, and I am, talking about.
JMJ
“We don’t need a constantly standing military that costs more than every other one in the world combined to keep us alive. That’s just silliness.”
We dont need a constantly standing military ?
What kind of lunacy is that ?
I wont decipher, I’ll put it out there like I usually do then.
Our soldiers are part of that “complex”
Alright BUDDY !
You have contempt for our military, you’ve shown this time and time again with your BS statements that you always try to dress up as something else.
You’ve never really had anything good to say about them in any regard except to make sure you always include you generic meaningless “I support the troops ” statement.
You’ve said before that our guys and gals are “not that educated” and that half of them are basically just drawing a check.
How freaking dare you accuse our military of being a non productive welfare state when it protects a holes like you to be able to say that idiocy ?
And yet you and Obama will love to do nothing more than turn the whole country into a welfare state by proping up every non viable demographic and business there is.
You would think on vets day you could of least kept your insults cloaked with BS away from the thread.
Our government makes no money either Jersey, and it could stand to be smaller.
But of course if you view our enemy as unruly children then I can see why you would think you need a smaller military.
Rumsfeld went in lean and look what happened.
And yet the left takes advantage of that to critisize him but when it suits your ideals you say the military should be lessened ?
Make up your mind.
Micky, just this once can we have a debate that stays on point?
I said, “We don’t need a constantly standing military that costs more than every other one in the world combined to keep us alive. That’s just silliness.”
To wit you said, “We dont need a constantly standing military?”
Now, did you read the second half of that sentence, or did you just black out and hit the floor before you got the chance?
“Our soldiers are part of that “complex””
Actually, no. The “Military Industrial Complex” refers to the institituions involed themselves, not personnel. They are a part of it in that they are dependent on these institutions for their pay and benefits, but they actually do the work for the pay and benefits, unlike the heads of the institutions who make the policy decisions. After all, the MIC is a product of and tool for policy – and policy, in this case, is governmental decision. I worked in the container line industry, but had no say in trade policy. I just did my job and got paid for it. The soilders do not decide what missions they go on, they just try to accomplish the mission. What you guys don’t get about this relationship is beyond me. I guess it’s just convenient (and rather sleazy, if you ask me) to link criticism of policy makers with those who are ordered to carry those policies out. Take people who blame the IRS for taxes, or blame the cops for bad laws. Those people are just stupid. So stupid, in fact, that they represent a small minority of people from various demographics. If you think I’m one of those sorts of people, than you are a poor judge of character.
“How freaking dare you accuse our military of being a non productive welfare state when it protects a holes like you to be able to say that idiocy?”
I never said they were “non-productive.” Just being a part of the welfare state does not make one non-productive. But they are a welfare state – they are completely dependent on the public dole. That’s just reality, Micky. If the public decided tomorrow that they didn’t want such a massive global military empire anymore, all those people would be out of luck, just as with any public institution.
“Our government makes no money either Jersey, and it could stand to be smaller.”
I’m sure it could. And the military would be the fiorst place to start. It’s ridiculous. We don’t need a military presense in a 140 or so countries. We don’t need to meddle in the business of every nation that happens to not want to engage in trade with us. We simply don’t need a military that costs more than all the other militaries in the world combined. It’s just plain stupid. And the first place we should start to cut should be in private contracting! Historically speaking, that is about the most dangerous, corrupting, self-defeating, unnecessarily expensive sort of private contracting the government can do!
Look, only a few loony pacifist hippies living in communes in the woods would argue that there simply shouldn’t be a military. Of course you need a military. Just for the Keynesian benefits alone, setting aside the obvious need for security! But we don’t need the ridiculous behemoth we have now. We need a lean mean fighting mahine, not an unmanageable juggernaut. Heck, we have an unprecedented huge military, and we can’t even finish the job in Afghanistan! What does that tell you? We’ve gotten so big and unmanageable, we can’t even effectively use what have anymore. In effect, we simply have too much! It’s like buying a PC when all you need is a calculator – you gst all the viruses, all the extraneous software, all the programming headaches, when all you really need is something that can add, subtract, multiply and divide. It’s just pointless. In this case, dangerously pointless. Because when you have a huge standing military with nothing to do, they will find something to do – and that’s when you get into trouble. Big. Dangerous. Trouble. Republicans used to know this. Too bad you all forgot your roots.
JMJ
Jersey.
I’d like to believe that you dont have contempt for the military.
But I cant and dont believe you.
You obviously have some kind of guilt complex as shown by your extensive initiative to defend yourself.
Once any entity of the government is put in a position to make a profit be it the iltary or the government you give opportunity for corruption like we’ve never seen.
But you’d like that, its called socialism, when the government determines whay is a profitable entity and what isnt.
They are not a welfare state.
The military earns and is worth every penny. The have viability as opposed to the 40% getting refunds that dont deserve them.
They are freeloading leeches.
Our military, no matter what sect or rank is not.
Micky, I’m ambivilent to “the military.” I don’t harbor any generalized attitudes about such a vast and multifaceted institutiuon. To “love” or “hate” the military is inane. Pointless.
It’s not a question of the worth of the forces, it’s a question of whether or not we need them all in the first place. I’m sure a Mercedes is worth every penny, but we don’t all need Mercedes’. You want a massive miltary empire? Fine. Enjoy paying for it. You can drive your Mercedes and I’ll drive my Buick. We’ll both get to work at the same time.
JMJ
Comparing the size of our military to the rest of the world is disingenuous. Most European countries have downsized their military precisely due to the size of ours. They know the US Military is there is needed so they don’t need as large an organic military.
I do think its funny that downsizing the military was exactly why Donald Rumsfeld was hated in many parts of congress and the pentagon. Thats what Transformation and the Revolution of Military Affairs was all about. He challenged the assumptions of the structure of the Military-Industrial Complex
As far as the attitudes toward the military, I still see a lot of it today and by the way it wasn’t only Viet Nam Vets who were treated shabbily it was anybody who wore the uniform. It was not a myth. Today the language is more subtle but the sentiment remains
Whatever Jersey.
You can pass that crap off on others. But I’ve had one too many debates on the subject with you to know different.
My Mercedes will get me there safer for decades, hell I wish I could buy a Mercedes, it’ll probably out live me
Your Buick will break down god knows when after about 7 years.
If its new, you’re gonna be paying the taxes to keep GM afloat just so your warranty will be honored.
Like I said, its no surprise that you see no need for strong voracious military when you think our enemies are non existential unruly children
JMJ;
“I’m sure a Mercedes is worth every penny, but we don’t all need Mercedes’. ”
See, there it is, right there, a typical socialist example, telling us what we do and dont need.
By the way, since when do you determine what anyone needs ?
JM;
‘It’s not a question of the worth of the forces, it’s a question of whether or not we need them all in the first place. ”
Then maybe you should tell your leftist buddies to stop whining about how under staffed our military is.
(there is no question)