My thoughts on why we all as Americans need to vote and make our family and friends vote this election day. I have to admit on many elections I could NOT vote, the ballots didn't make it to where I was, serving this nation, the DMZ in Korea, Oman, Germany and Alaska. That is one of the disadvantages to serving this nation in uniform, the absentee ballots seldom make it to you in time to fill it out and return it before election day, thus making your vote count. This is not a new problem because of Iraq, this has been going on since our nation started.
Military members give up many of the privileges of citizenship to ensure all other Americans can enjoy them, only the drafted can really complain on this issue, almost everyone else understands that the UCMJ is different than regular civilian law, it's part of the Duty, Honor and Country that gets tossed around a lot.
But I have to admit as a young man in the Army I like another Kossack, tended to think and vote republican, because that is part of the military also, you are ingrained with the lessons that only the Republicans care about the military, and you tend to believe it, when you listen to the politicians talk, but if you look past the talk and look at real issues, like veteran health care, VA hospital closures, underfunded mental health care programs for active duty and veterans, let alone any mention of their family members affected by the veterans PTSD, they aren;t part of the governments responsibility, just ask any of my four ex wives and my three kids how much counseling they have gotten in the past three decades due to my PTSD, none. It's not the governments problem.
When you look at who votes for and against the issues affecting the troops and their families, it's the democratic congress and Senatorial members who have the high percentage rankings from the veterans groups on votes for programs that help the troops, the Republicans vote for the bombs, bullets and tanks, but come up short on the other issues like families, and the after math of the wars.
To be fair here neither of the parties can claim a great track record here, but in the past 15 years the Democrats are rated far higher in these areas than republicans.
And as a disabled veteran, with kids, and grand kids and my life experience, I know what I feel they need, and it's a democratic led Congress at this time in history, this out of control power hungry administrative branch has to have oversight, the comments made about "water dunking" "watch how you say things, you are empowering the enemy, when you critize the war" and Lynne Cheney's attack on CNN for "
Sex, Lies and distortions" interview on Wolf Blitzer is a classic example of what I am afraid of for this nation.
My kids, my grand kids and all of our future descendents deserve a nation better than we inherited, not one that we have allowed "fear mongering" idealogues to destroy.
I ask you to please volunteer to drive people to old to get to the polls, call and ask the senior centers if they need help getting anyone there, call campaigns and ask if they need drivers to be available on the 7th.
Not all of us can serve this nation in uniform, but we can all serve it, by helping others to get out and vote and to demand accountability, to save this nation and to get our Constitution back in a safe area, and made more than just another piece of paper, that these Neocons think it is.