Posted on 10/20/2024 7:11:26 PM PDT by rlmorel
I saw this sign today in my neighborhood. I take particular exception to this one.
It isn't just the open usage of a libelous slander that bothers me, it is the open support for people who wish to destroy this country.
I saw this sign, and thought this of the person who put that sign out: "You may be a veteran, but if you support the Democrat Party, you are both a sucker and a loser.
I give default respect to anyone who has served. In the absence of any indication that the person might not be deserving of respect, they get it, no questions asked.
But supporting the Democrat Party invalidates that respect.
Absolutely. In the naval aviation community, we called those people “no loads”.
As in life, those people are everywhere. In the military, you learn how to account for them and work around them, because often, you could not just ignore them. In combat, or on a flight deck, they could get you killed, so you had to account for them.
In civilian life, I learned not to trust them, and how to avoid them.
I understand completely, and that is something that disheartens me as well.
It is a hollowing out of the core of a moral society.
Right. That is how to get your stripes these days, by parroting the party line and pushing all things DIE.
It is repulsive, disgusting, and unsettling.
Yes. What is it with that? I have never been able to figure that out, except for some people, being a slave is easier for them than having to think for yourself.
I feel much the same way. I just don’t understand it, in the same way I don’t understand otherwise intelligent people who swallow it.
I sometimes think it is the longing for things being the way someone wishes them to be, rather than accepting things they way they are and having to work around that.
Honestly, I don’t have any respect for someone who unthinkingly follows immoral, illegal, or unconstitutional orders.
That doesn’t fly in my world.
"Groaning under the burden of freedom, people will beg for the return of their chains" - Alexis De Tocqueville
"The weak want to bring the strong down to their level. They would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom." - Alexis De Tocqueville
"The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice, and truth. Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage, and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty - and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies." - H.L. Mencken
"The slave is in search of a perfect master, the ideal plantation where masters provide resources without demanding too much, if any, work at all." - Source Unknown
In my opinion, it is not denying others the right of having their own opinion.
For example, someone may have the opinion that it is fine to murder, rape, or rob another person, "might equals right", so to speak.
But there are laws against this. Those laws are legally passed legislation that is codified by the guidelines of the Constitution. Those are not opinions. Those are laws that we all agree to live by if we wish to be citizens, and they are built within the framework of the Constitution.
The same Constitution that those veterans who support the Left took an OATH to protect and defend.
I believe those people have broken their oath. It is not that they have different opinions that I disagree with.
I saw an Israeli recently who said (I have to paraphrase it here):
"If someone disagrees with your or has a different opinion, they are not your enemy. If someone does to you what Hamas did on October 7th, they are."
What we have here is people who support (against their oath) the laying of foundations that inevitably ends up with things like October 7th. We have seen what limiting speech and disarming populations ends up as. That is indisputable. We have seen it again and again.
So, it isn't just a difference of opinion. If a veteran told me that they disagreed with the 1st or 2nd Amendment and intended to launch an endeavor to amend the Constitution, I would absolutely not view it the same way, and would not see it as a violation of their oath of enlistment because...they would be working within the framework of the Constitution they took an oath to defend. I would want them to fail, but I don't believe it would be inconsistent with their oath to defend the Constitution.
But that is not what they are supporting. They are supporting unconstitutional methods of changing law.
Those are excellent quotes, and entirely relevant here in this discussion.
And as I read what the Navy taught you, I can see your point of view about being thankful for that and being thankful for the service of others. I've no doubt that the military has taken millions of average people over the years and made them into above average citizens like you.
As I read your report, I kept thinking of JD Vance. Have you read 'Hillbilly Elegy'? Here we have a boy from an abusive dysfunctional family that had generations of failures behind him and he probably would face the same substandard life he grew up in. If it were not for the Marines.
JD certainly didn't learn honor, value, service and stability from his family. He learned that in the USMC. And what they taught him lead to the greatness that he has today.
So in retrospect to you, JD, and thousands of others I say "Thank you for your service".
I disagree with your argument. As a military retiree, I have not been swayed by any government’s official political position to have me change my morals in support of their illicit ideas. I still stand by my oath to the Constitution.
GOD, Family and Country First.
I am most certainly going to read that book. I was talked out of it a few years ago by my wife who said it was very depressing, but...I can read a book like that if it has historical significance, which it most certainly does!
In the military I was in, it had problems. But one problem it didn’t appear to have was roadblocks to someone getting ahead that were based on their race or religion.
It was an imperfect meritocracy, but it was a meritocracy, and I base that one the quantity of people of all races and creeds who rose to the top, and whom I served under.
Sadly, I don’t see that now, and besides being disgraceful, I think it is utterly dangerous. If, God forbid, we get into a real shooting war with an enemy with some parity to us, we are going to experience losses of a kind we are not used to.
A pox on the people who have done this, because responsibility will not be assigned. They will all make themselves successfully invisible.
My Father, a 30 year Navy veteran, spoke of that creed often, and I believe fully that he lived his life by it.
I try (and always have tried) to live by it myself, and am currently focusing on the GOD part.
Right? That it is allegedly a close race is baffling. Of course the supporters of Trump’s failed opponent feel the same way about us so........ Have a good week.
Amen brother, GOD is my number one priority.
Wonderful explanation. My dad wanted us boys to join the military, but didn’t give such perfect reasoning. It was at the end of the draft. My brother was lottery number 300+ and I was in the first non-draft class. We both chose not to serve and in hindsight I believe I was wrong. Unfortunately dad was not an integral influence on us and it shows. Good lives, but I can only imagine how much better it would be with discipline and comeraderie that any military service would have instilled. Thank you for your service and your words. Respect.
I grew up Catholic, but left the Church for personal reasons. I am trying to find my way to God, and the Baptist sect is the one I have gravitated to. I have always considered myself well-read, but...never read the Bible. It occurred to me I cannot be well-read until I have read the most read book in the history of mankind!
I just got all the way through the Old Testament, and the New Testament is, I am told, where the meat and potatoes of the Bible reside, so I am excited for this.
Sigh. It aches my heart that I cannot in good faith recommend the Military in its current state.
Not only does it deny many good people what they (as young people) might be able to get from the military, but the kind of people we want there won’t join for just those reasons, and that hurts our national security in untold ways.
I appreciate your insight on this.
I know. No doubt they would view me as bigoted because I steadfastly deny they have a leg to stand on, but...I feel that I am looking at the information, issues, stances, and how they have manifested itself in history to formulate my ideological preferences.
Definitely not something I have taken lightly in my life, and it has been a nearly 50-60 year journey of doing this to arrive here.
I know they wish to paint a moral equivalence, but I reject that utterly.
None of this is a mystery. We have seen it before, repeatedly.
So while I know they will say "Yeah, we feel the same way about YOU basket of deplorable Conservatives" WE aren't the ones going down the paths laid out by the factors I listed above.
We freeped “Vietnam Veterans against the War” for years outside Walter Reed. Some people regard a political party as a religion or a home town sports team. Win or lose, they can’t change. Treason and sedition? Having a bad year.
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