Reply to your post is inline, below: "CaptainObvious, post: 4680346, member: 53164"]By the time this whole thing changes, and it's going to change in a big way, I'll be dead and gone. It sounds like you recognize the great thing we have going in the United States and are grateful not to have to live during the hard times. Do you not have a sense of duty to your children and our community to try to preserve what we have for future generations? Most of those that support Radical Left causes have utterly no clue what history has shown over and over again: Socialism leads to poverty and loss of freedom for everyone except a very few. They should ask comrade Putin about his net worth and then talk to the typical Russian citizen for perspective. I'm grateful to have lived in the time that I have. Earlier would have been much tougher, however far back you go. Later will be tougher as a result of a multitude of mistakes, greed and short sightedness. No, this is it. This is as good as it gets. The new America only goes down from here. I know how lucky I've been. Do you? If you agree that our system should be preserved, are you willing to commit to taking serious action and encourage other like-minded people to do so?
Lets look at this.. white? how much more white could you be? veteran? free healthcare for life for YOU and huge education subsidy for your kids. free speech? fake news!
Race on your mind, much? A lot of your posts reference race. Are you a racist? Or do you race as an emotional tool when you have little factual support for your position? The problem of using the same tools, no matter how high the emotional value may be, is they wear out with overuse. Especially when the race card has little or nothing to do with the issue at hand. As social media becomes a greater part of our daily lives, the staying power of weak and invalid arguments should be reduced. Many U.S. political comments on social media during U.S. working hours are by the unemployed, paid trolls, or are foreign participants. There are also at least a few media and political organizations that actively participate, either directly or indirectly, in social media. Thus, many of the comments seen during working hours are not necessarily reflective of the U.S. population at large during these times. If you are able to advance a argument without solid foundations, our society will likely be the worse for it. I hope you will take the time to thoroughly look at the issues from several sides before promoting a position. I have.
The money for those benefits comes from tax payers. But anyone who works hard and puts their life on the line for our country has earned those benefits.
Just being a veteran doesn't qualify one for VA healthcare for life. Unless someone was wounded in combat(I wasn't) the amount of care you can receive is based on your income. I make way too much money for VA care. The education subsidies are nice, but not that much, and they too are very much weighted per income status. Frankly I think any vet should get free heathcare at any hospital in the country, and go to the front of the line. It was earned. Perhaps a draft would be appropriate to earn such benefits. I'd support that. Don't like the draft, be shrewd like I was and enlist.
If you asked people for the opinions, get the opinions and live with it, if you want to have an argument with people after they expressed their opinion, have an argument , but if you start expressing publicly opinion about those who you asking questions, and also telling them what to do, then you have to be prepared that some one like me will tell you where to go - to kiss my ass.
So lets get this straight.. the US military is the largest socialist jobs program in the western world. You got paid for a job that was likely utterly unnecessary and paid for out of the pockets of actual hard working people. But you want free care for life... because you did what? Between 1 in 7 and 1 in 12 of the army are ever in a position where they might need a gun... About 9.2 million Americans served in the military during the Vietnam era (1964-75). And they collectively failed their intended purpose.One can argue it bought a little time for other Asian governments to strengthen.. maybe or maybe they would have been ok. There is a lunacy/cheek to these boomer guys to decry oh but that is socialist! xyz but want a special deal for them.
Utterly unnecessary? And then you wonder why people question the true feelings of the left when it comes to national defense. And just for the record, I do make a distinction between a veteran and a person who served in the military and saw no combat, or were not serving in a combat zone. Veterans, by my definition, are people who saw action, or were in an actual combat zone providing support for combat troops. These veterans deserve healthcare, free post secondary education, any civilian job training they can qualify for, low interest loans, and the respect of every single American. It was earned, and there is the difference between the socialist idea that EVERYONE should get these things simply for the asking, and those who actually earned the benefits which are well deserved. You'd give a free ride to a welfare queen who spits out kids like a baby making pez dispenser, but deny an education to a combat veteran. Thanks for proving my earlier point about leftists being disingenuous about their support for the troops.
I'm starting to come around to the notion that all benefits should be means tested - state and federal. That means testing should include the ability to work as well - not just stated income.