Another Perspective, Specifics

As I watched the speeches of the victors in the Iowa caucuses, I was stunned at how vague the comments of the candidates were. "Unity." "Change." "Hope." "Faith." What do these words mean besides evoking vague memories of films of Der Fuhrer screaming "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer" to wild masses at Nuremberg? Mostly nothing, I suspect. So, from my safe little office in Rancho Mirage, California, I will start to offer some specifics of what government can do to redeem these vague phrases. A pledge that if the candidate is President, he will: Not allow there to be one homeless veteran. No matter what it costs, there will always be a warm bed for every veteran in every community of this nation. Not allow one veteran to go without mental or physical care after combat, no matter what the cost. Not allow one military widow or widower to lose her or his house because the breadwinner has been lost serving his country. Not permit for one more month after inauguration the cruel system where one set of survivor's benefits are deducted from other payments, leaving widows and widowers throwing up their hands in despair at this penny pinching by a government that can allow billionaires to escape taxation altogether; Not allow one military orphan or widow or widower to be denied higher education because of a lack of tuition payments. These are just a beginning. There will be more.

Apart from his tax the wealth producers mentality, I usually like Ben, but I take issue with him on this.

1. I don’t think we have very many “homeless vets”. One homeless vet that was trotted out by the media on TV, I recognized as someone that had been kicked out of the military with an other than honorable discharge for beating his wife on multiple occasions. As far as I’m concerned, the shelter he was living in was far more than he deserved. Normally, people that are honorably discharged are not the kind that end up on skid row.

2. I’m not sure which “survivor benefits” Ben is talking about, but I’m not sure he has his information straight on this one.

3. I don’t need the government to educate my kids. Pay me what you think my service is worth. If it is enough for me to educate my kids, I’ll stay in, if not I’ll get out and do something else, that’s how the markets work.

4. Given the amount of SGLI that a widow would get (400K), even if the service member didn’t have any other insurance, I don’t see why any widows would be getting foreclosed on.

5. I applaud Ben’s sentiment, but I don’t think active duty and veterans want any special government programs. Just a wage competitive with what civilians get, and the occasional expression of appreciation for our efforts. (Such as the Code Pinko counter protests at Walter Reed and Bethesda).

Apart from his tax the wealth producers mentality, I usually like Ben

I think I would agree more if Stein had said "Reform a system that gives goverment handouts to billionare (aka the Farm Program)..."

The solution is not for the Govt to tax more, the solution is for Govt, at all levels, to do a much better job with the money it all ready gets.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.