A Veteran's Day Prayer

A quick post for Veteran's Day. Let's have fewer of them. Veterans, that is. Let's enter armed conflict as a last resort, not the first. The idea of projecting a military presence, in my opinion, should be for defensive purposes only. That would rule out our current adventures in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as other locales where the metastasis of radical Islam spreads.

This approach would have also ruled out our participation in Vietnam and Korea. In fact, the last justifiable use of military force was in Afghanistan in 2001 following 9/11 and, before that, World War II.

Yes, it's true that generals need wars to fight and the defense industry needs markets for its bombs and fighter jets, but there are far better ways to spend tax dollars than feeding the maw of national defense and fighting wars that never end and that have little to do with national security.

Let's celebrate Veteran's Day by honoring those who fought and by encouraging our government to pursue policies that make this day less and less necessary.

Don't Bother with the 2016 Election Yet

One of several things that makes Canada more appealing than the U.S. these days, in addition to single-payer health care and a tendency to avoid fighting endless wars in the Middle East, is their national elections.

There was outrage among our northern neighbors when their recent election that brought liberals crashing into office that the campaign lasted an elongated nine months--an obscene length of time! What a waste of national resources and attention--don't people have better things to do with their time?

This is written, of course, with tongue in cheek, since we live in a land where the next presidential election race starts a few hours after the previous one ends. If a candidate doesn't announce at least 18 months before the general election, he/she doesn't stand a chance.

Elections in Canada, and most other civilized countries, are federally funded. Ours, of course, are funded by influence-seeking tycoons, corporations, and special interest groups who lard up our system with enough cash that could wire all of Africa with fiber optic cable or maybe even address the decrepit infrastructure here in the good 'ole U.S.

And what have we seen so far in the current contest? One party is reduced to the lunatic fringe that wants to cut taxes for rich people; take away health insurance from poor, middle class, and old people; send more folks over to fight dumb wars in the Middle East, prevent women from making important choices regarding their health; and build walls across our southern and northern border to keep out people who really don't want to come here.

The other party wants to expand social programs, health insurance, and infrastructure repairs by raising taxes that the majority opposition party will never approve in a million years.

In other words, nobody is talking seriously yet. Maybe when the final candidates emerge and they stop dissing each other long enough to, just maybe, seriously address some of today's important issues, our ears should prick up and even take an interest.

That hasn't happened yet. I say you should enjoy the football season and have a merry holiday season and just ignore politics for a while. The New Hampshire primary isn't until February.