Wednesday, 11 NOV 2015 :: Veteran's Day

It's almost over, but there is still a little time to call it Veteran's Day.

There were some posts on my Facebook timeline today... with the flag, with military objects, with soldiers. I didn't do much online other than Facebook and checking my emails and Etsy, so I have no idea how much celebrating went on. 

There were moments about our military on the debate yesterday.  Some of those feelings were still around Facebook.  The need for a military, the high price that many pay for our protections, the cost of supplying the military we have, these all come into the conversation. 

If we were all moral, peaceful, kind, compassionate people,
there wouldn't be a need for protection.

But all of us are not good people.  Some people like to hurt others, some people need to control others, some people think money is the only thing that makes them worthwhile and they will do horrendous things to get it.  These other kinds of people create a dangerous world, and we have grown up with the idea that a police force and military will help protect us.

On Facebook, there was a photo of men in German prison camps as they were freed... I made the comment that men like Hitler are why we need a strong military.

At the debate, one of the comments that stood out was from Carli Fiorina on negotiating with our opponents... I think they were discussing Putin at the time.  The idea was that someone like Putin wouldn't even care about negotiating if we were not a threat to him...if our power did not exceed his.  The comment was that you need to negotiate from a position of strength, not weakness. Militaries cost money, but they are a necessary expense. 

The amount of resources we dedicate to preserving and supporting our military is equal to the power we have in the world.

It seems to me that the problems we are facing are getting more difficult, but they are also getting less physical, more intellectual, more technological, more cunning, and more easily implemented.  Hackers don't necessarily need the newest equipment to devastate our lives, they just need an internet connection and the knowledge of how it operates.  We are already seeing the effects of attacks from China and other communist countries.  In time, that power will belong to any small person living anywhere in the world.  It isn't love that makes people hurt others, it is hate.  There are a lot of people who don't like the United States, Christianity, freedom........whatever their gripe is, innocent people are the ones who suffer most.


I have had the thought that a lot of our budget woes would not exist if we didn't have so much debt to cover interest payments for.  Imagine where we could apply all that interest payment money.  It is the same issue at the household level, with credit cards and other forms of debt...  it takes away from the money you would normally have to spend.  We all need a small amount of emergency credit, but if our debt is too large, the payments take all of our income.  That is what Obama has done to us as a country.  Our debt is so large it is eating up all of our resources just to make the payments.  It is making the military look like the problem, or social service programs, or healthcare programs like Medicaid and Medicare, or Social Security, and so on.

If we can get our debt under control, a lot of the other problems will be less threatening... and the military won't be the villain anymore... and we can protect our country better.