Support the Troops

Throughout history, patriotism ebbs and flows. In recent years, if one spoke out about the country, the individual was “not patriotic” and this angers me. This term is thrown around as an insult to undermine what an individual is advocating. The Founding Fathers (though those wives who stayed home on the farm should be given more credit too, but that is a blog for another day), would believe that dissent is the ultimate form of being patriotic. We should be thankful for their dissent, because, but for them standing up for what they thought was right, the United Kingdom would still be our “Mother Country.” (I am currently watching the HBO series on John Adams…)

This brings me to “support the troops.” This is an insult that is also thrown around. If you speak out against the war, then you don’t support the troops. If you don’t agree with the war, you do not support the troops. This is disrespectful and detracts from the troops. I believe there are different ways to “support the troops.” Putting a magnet on a car is not the only way to show support. Supporting the troops is not wearing a flag pin or putting your hand over your heart. Those simple actions are a great way to show support, but the actions can be superficial if that is it. Senator Obama should not have to give a speech about being patriotic; he has shown his love of our country through his public service as a politician and he has done nothing to permit such questions of his dedication.

Senator Clinton, a few years ago, helped sponsor a bill that would have given permanent health care to any individual who was served our country in this capacity, but it was laughed at. And there have been others. Additionally, the new GI Bill has been greeted with resistance from various republicans and Senator John McCain. Any soldier who serves our country should be welcomed home with the same opportunities our WWII troops were given.

What brings me to this topic, as being my first real blog topic, is an article on CNN, “Homeless veterans face new battle for survival.” It is noted that veterans make up almost a quarter of the homeless population and this number is expected to rise. Individuals dismiss the homeless population as being lazy and not deserving of any help. But the homeless population is made up of primarily veterans, former foster care children, individuals who are mentally ill, and others. It is embarrassing that the richest country in the world cannot take better care of its veterans, (the state of some VA hospitals is terrible, we can do better). The federal government is the most competent organ to address this issue; the individual donative person cannot fix these types of problems. They served their country, their country should serve them.

With that, Happy Fourth of July!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/02/homeless.veterans/index.html

-Jennifer