“Posts and attitudes like this are NOT good, just my two cents.”
It does not take much imagination to come up a scenario where this situation could have gone very badly for the marine. If the two people fighting are married, the woman could suddenly come to the perp’s defense once the cops arrive and give a story that makes the marine the aggressor. The perp could have attacked the marine using his bare hands and put the marine in the same situation as Zimmerman - especially if the perp is black. Or what if the perp is mentally disabled in some fashion - “armed marine attacks mentally handicapped man”. Bottom line is that the marine did a well intentioned but foolish thing. It could have ended very badly for him. It would have been much smarter to stay at a distance and call the cops, no matter how slow they are about responding. In my opinion, the danger in interfering goes up significantly when you are in a community that does not share your philosophical beliefs or attitudes. I do not want to go to the edge to defend a left wing progressive only to have that person, who fundamentally disagrees with me every important issue including personal responsibility, accuse me of being the problem. I don’t trust them and I won’t fight for them.
You are free to act as you wish.
To what you said, I would add, "and I resent like hell having my tax dollars supporting them."