I, in no way want to get into a political debate, seeing how I’m not political at all, but I have a bone to pick.
Thank you in advance for allowing me to step up on my soapbox. I promise to make this short.
I read online that the Independence Day celebrations were being cancelled at several (if not all) military bases in our country due to budget cuts.
I am in complete agreement with tightening up on spending, but seriously? Military bases? At the same time, our president is vacationing in Africa to the tune of $100 million.
We have a terrible problem with excess in this country. This starts at the top. I believe we live in a democracy, not a monarchy. Or did somebody appoint a king when I was busy working at my retail job and I missed it?
I am grateful to live in our country. We are rich beyond most of the world’s imagination. Even our homeless have access to water and toilets.
The average American makes more money than 95 percent of the world. That’s average. Those making more than average are in the top 1 percent of our global neighbors. Yet, we can’t seem to wrap our brains around what is important enough to fund and protect.
Military families, in my opinion, should be supported in every way possible. It is dishonoring to cut salaries, support or even extracurricular events like fireworks to people whose loved ones are risking their lives to protect our country. We should be extending their benefits not cutting them.
I believe as a nation we have lost our compass. We honor athletes with obscene salaries. We idolize musicians and movie stars and make them wealthy beyond reason.
Yet, teachers, law enforcement, firefighters and others in public service who help make our lives better get little recognition or reward. Thankfully, most of these fine people are in it for the common good, not the fame and fortune.
Who gets to decide that our president can take a ridiculously expensive trip and our soldiers and their families get shorted?
And even more importantly, on a humanitarian level, how do you spend $100 million on a trip and not dig a single well or feed an orphanage for a day.
According to The Washington Post, some of the money is being spent on fighter jets flying in shifts over the president’s airspace, military cargo planes airlifting 56 support vehicles, including 14 limos and three truckloads of bulletproof glass, to cover windows of hotels where the first family will stay.
Meanwhile, our military families are going to spend this Independence Day without the celebration.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice, but hand over that sparkler! Uncle Sam can’t afford it.