Veterans And Retired Military On The New Administration
By Thomas D. Segel
March 11, 2009

When the Obama Administration took office; it claimed to have assumed national leadership with a mandate for change. Congressional leaders said, "we won -- get used to it." Within the families of many veterans and retired military personnel this is not translating into any change they view as acceptable. In a sampling of this group requested from across the country no positive responses were received.

"I really believe Obama will give us change," says Arnold Fisher an Iraq war veteran from Oklahoma City. "In fact, when he finishes up stacking all of his planned new taxes on top of us, all we will have left is the 'change' in our pockets."

"Any housewife knows that if her checkbook shows $100 she can't go buy $110 worth of groceries", responds veteran Eric Muth of Milford, CT. "Our new government leadership should send its people back to grade school to pick up some of those things they should have learned early on. Maybe before they implement any more financial initatives, they should talk to their mothers about how people manage to balance their checkbooks."

Barbara Smith the widow of a veteran who lives in San Benito, Texas is a bit more charitable with her words. "Our government and this nation are on a slippery slope to hell. If you look around you find corruption, greed, moral decay and a steady move away from all the things that made us great. I am convinced we must pray for our nation and its leaders and ask forgiveness for all the wrongs they are committing."

Howard Watson writes, "As a retired member of the United States military I do believe that most of the members of Congress could benefit from a course that we used in Leadership Principles and Traits. Now a retired psychologist, I see sick people who can benefit from various types of treatment, but I would be too gracious if I referred to these people as 'sick'. These people in Congress are lacking courage, responsibility, integrity and ALL the principles of leadership."

In past commentary our Congress has been contrasted with those who serve in the armed forces. Retiree Kevin Healey took exception to that comparison saying," Comparing Congress to the military is akin to comparing the 'Band of Brothers' to 'A Band of Thieves'. The only hope we have is term limits for members of Congress and the 'Band of Thieves' will never impose limits of any kind upon themselves. The reality is we are stuck with most of these bastards until they die or go to jail."

In speaking about the Obama Administration and who they will help or hurt Rick Redman of New York reflects, "I guess that means us folks that have to live on $12K a year are really going to take it in the shorts. Do I hear the clatter of revolution in the distance?"

Veteran Michael Scott, writing from Glendora, CA seems to feel a lot of the unemployment problems would be solved if the Administration just obeyed existing laws. "Wouldn't it be in our nation's interest, with a jobless rate at 7.6% (now 8.1%) nationally and 10.2% here in California, if all 554,000 illegal immigrants with outstanding deportation orders would be deported and their jobs then filled by unskilled and unemployed Americans."

A military retiree who signs himself only as Gunner responds, "I honestly thought it would take about six months before people who voted for Obama would begin to wake up and realize they made a huge mistake. It is happening much sooner than I thought. One of Obama's biggest supporters was Whoopie Goldberg. So, Whoopie is now disappointed with Obama and Company and he hasn't even been in office two months."

Whoopie said this isn't what she signed up for. She said that she understood it when Obama said he was going to tax the wealthy. "OK, Now I don't mind that. I don't mind paying a little more tax 'cause I make a good living. But, I don't want to get it coming and going."

"I wanted to be able to call this man my president. That now seems almost impossible", says retired Navy CPO Russ Kindle from North Carolina. "Every move the man has made is so far to the left of center that he violates everything I believe in. But then, I still cling to my guns and my God."

Lieutenant Colonel Harry Riley writes from his home in Crestview, FL that as an Army retiree the Administration's actions make his "blood boil." He writes, "There is no gimmick Obama and his minions won't try to move America solidly socialist, or should I say 'communism-lite'.

Writing about the planned tax increases for people making more than $250K, R. L. Fisher ponders, "I wonder if the people who get the 'tax break' will ever figure out that their tax has really gone up. The problem is with the hidden tax as it gets added to all goods and services. So, the government blames it on capitalist business owners and uses it as an excuse to raise business taxes even more."

Admittedly, the words reported here are only random responses from veterans and retirees around the country. There are undoubtedly members of the military family who agree with everything the Administration is trying to accomplish. The interesting thing is...not one of that group wrote and stated his or her case in support of this "change we can believe in."

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.