Yeah, I think you're right, Moondust. I get the impression that they're happy to pat us on the back and see us off when we go, but if we have the temerity to come back and start claiming the benefits we were promised, then we're not so popular with them anymore. I grow weary of reading the news and seeing yet another great Republican idea to reduce veterans benefits.
And then, of course, there are matters like trying to legislate their ideas about morality into everyone else's life, and wanting to throw anyone who's down on their luck to the wolves, and throwing temper tantrums and trying to shut down the government in a foaming-at-the-mouth petulant frenzy. But they don't seem to understand that regular folks are tired of the nonsense.
I may live in a red state and wear a cowboy hat and boots, own a pickup truck, listen to country music, and own guns and all that, but when I wore that uniform in which I was disabled in the line of duty, I wore it on behalf of ALL Americans, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, straight, gay, male, female, religious, atheist, and any other category you can think of. I may not always agree with others, but I'll defend their right to disagree with me, as others have said before me. I didn't always agree with what we were involved with in the military, but I carried on because I felt that sometimes what we had to do was necessary, and it wasn't my business, or anyone else's in the military, to set national policy.
I'm a great believer in minding my own business. And it isn't my business who somebody else chooses to love. Hell, I'd rather see two people who love each other, regardless of gender, than to see two people trying to kill each other. And if two people partner up, why shouldn't they get the same benefits as any other two people who partner up?
And I think a poor kid from the inner city is entitled to the same rights as an American as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
And I don't see it as any of my business, or anyone else's, as to what decisions a woman makes about her own body.
And even though I own some guns of my own, I don't see anything wrong with having some reasonable restrictions on who can own weapons and what sort of weapons they need to be allowed. Frankly, I can shoot, and I hit what I aim at, and I have never been in a situation outside the military where I felt that I needed an autoloading weapon with a high capacity magazine. Just a regular old lever action, low capacity ranch rifle accomplishes any task that I might have for it.
And I don't understand locking people up and ruining lives because their recreational choices are different than mine. Or spending 70 billion a year on a "War On Drugs" that doesn't work even as they eye veterans benefits, and welfare, unemployment, and other social programs for cuts. You don't throw people to the wolves.
A lot of the people in my community would probably howl with indignation at the way I see things, but to me, I'll worry about fixing everyone else and forcing my values and beliefs on them as soon as I'm perfect myself. And I've been working on it for 56 years. But somehow, I seriously doubt I'll ever get there. So I hope no one is waiting around for me to tell them how to think or live.
In the meantime, I think I'll mind my own business and vote to preserve everyone else's right to live as they please. Even the ones who disagree with me. I just wish the constant divisiveness spewing forth from the conservative end of the political spectrum would cease. Maybe then we could all work together and get on with keeping and maintaining a nation that's the best place to live that I've been able to find.
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