Above: Big Driftwood Near Point Partridge
Recent conversations with various people reveal their favorite political tribes.
This comes out even without asking. Maybe some people out there are done with politics. Not the people I have been speaking with.
My take:
The USA has taken a dive in the post 911 era. Both major parties have taken turns in power for decades.
If I met a new person today, and they asked:
Did you serve?
My response would be: I am not making that claim.
Alternative response:
I did some time in the Marines during a part of the last century.
It did not serve to prevent 911 or the undeclared wars that came later.
People love militarized air shows.
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
US jet aircraft have been able to strike targets in what wars won by the US?
Did the advantage of US air power allow the undeclared wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to be prevented, won or shut down?
The Department of Defense was established in 1949. What part of DOD history involved US troops sent to locations where the constitution was threatened?
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in these areas.
Today, when my voter guide and ballot arrive in the mail, they are destroyed and thrown into recycling.
What we are thinking:
The failings of one extreme political party bring on the next extreme political party.
Armed Forces Recruiting – 1980s
Part of what made it work:
In past decades, people could do time in uniform, then return to the US with a feeling that they were living in the best country on the planet.
They believed it and their parents and grandparents believed it.
Those who did may have wished to hand down a better version of the modern American society to their kids and grandkids.
Today-
Standards have deteriorated. The troops return to an ongoing breakdown of society.
Both major parties have taken turns in power over the past 40 years or so. For sure, there is a chunk of public policy that has become worse, not better.
Emergency/crisis/chaos mode is what we get now.
From 2004
“Today, however, the Congress has relinquished its delegated powers, giving the President license to do whatever he and his office determine that they can get away with. Consequentially, the presidential and legislative oaths to the Constitution have just turned into a great photo op on inauguration day.”
“It is a sad and hard realization for a grunt who loves the Marine Corps to admit that the organization is not used in the preservation of liberty, and has not been used toward that end for a very long time.”
Source:
Why I Didn’t Reenlist
By Casey Khan
February 14, 2004
Both major parties are OK with federal prohibition of alcohol and tobacco for adults age 18-20.
No such thing the day I graduated from high school.
That was before decades of military operations for your freedoms.
In the 60s & 70s I never attended a Veterans Day assembly at school.
There were none.
Probably enough veterans around to remove most of the mystique, or maybe those veterans thought it was all just an average thing and did not want to be seen as a separate part of American society, or get head of the line parking spots over at the grocery store. Maybe the concept of Armistice Day had not gone completely extinct.
Growing up in the 60s & 70s- veterans were all around- church, school, Boy Scout leaders, family, the neighborhood, etc. It was all just an average thing. These folks weren’t seen as a separate part of American society.
People weren’t stepping over to say “Thanks for your service” to my Dad- who did time in the Navy in the 50s- but looked just like anyone else out in public.
These guys weren’t lining up for free dinner promotions marketed by major restaurant chains.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
In some cases, the US Armed Forces provide for our security. That’s as good as it gets.
In terms of American rights and freedoms, the Dept. of Defense has no more say than the Dept. of Agriculture.
Homeland Security Is A Scam
The US Dept. of Homeland Security was established in 2002.
More overdose deaths now, or before DHS?
If anyone claims lower OD numbers, is this because DHS is able to keep cartel product from arriving in US communities, or because drug addicts are now fogged down with Narcan, buprenorphine, Naloxone, ect. to combat overdoses?
Has any community anywhere in the US downsized or shut down any local drug task force, or narcotics enforcement team due to the success of Dept. of War strikes on suspected narcoterrorist drug boats, ICE crackdowns and designating cartels as terrorist organizations?
Any questions from newspeople?
Why It Matters
Americans were told that they faced a life and death situation after 911. If certain actions were not taken, terrorists could come to America to disrupt our way of life and attempt another 911.
If all this was a life and death situation that required sending the troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, wouldn’t it be important to ask a few public policy questions about what was going on?
Newspeople have a long history of not asking questions in this area.
Several years back, I started the Old Man Blog category. It involves thoughts on changes in American culture relating to those born roughly in the late 50s & early 60s.
Original Old Man Blog here: https://oldmanblogdotcom.wordpress.com
New updates here: https://oakbaystarfish.com/category/old-man-blog/
Related:
Replace The Phrase?
The Invisible Veteran
The Post 911 Era
A Land Of Make Believe – USA 250
The people of Alaska need services in the Middle East
US Air Power
What Is A Fake War On Terror?
196.37 Grams Of Fentanyl – Clallam County
Seattle Drug Scene – Welcome Home Troops
Seattle Open-Air Drug Use Rolls On
Sealed Borders Update
Seattle DEA Nonsense
Federal Drug War Scam Rolls On
A Fake War On Terror Features A DEA That Thrives On Borders That Are Not Sealed
Sentinel
