March 2016

Why All Veterans should be "Vets for Sanders"

Yes, I know he is a hippy folks, but at least he is a hippy with genuine integrity. How many politicians can we say that about?

"This bird should not have to work 40 hours a week and still be short of worms"

 It may seem like a hard sell talking military veterans into voting for Bernie Sanders. He seems far too short-sighted, but so what? Does a U.S. President have absolute power? With that in mind, for the life of me I cannot see why some of the most needy people in the United States (veterans) would vote for career bureaucrats that have never and will never give a single shit about them. 

 Sure Sanders has never actually served in the military, but I have never used a tampon before and I can still see the appeal.

"Put the kettle on luv, Ive had a shit day at work."

 Indeed, vetsforbernie.org is not seeing half as much traffic as it should be, as the vast majority of those that have served in the United States military seem to gravitate towards the Republican party. 

 As a veteran I can definitely see some appeal to Trump, despite the crass comments and the fact that it looks like he cuts his own hair in the garden shed with a broken bottle.

 For starters, he says exactly what he thinks, or perhaps what he thinks people want to hear, it's impossible to tell which. But either way, it is refreshing to hear a politician talk straight for a change. Unfortunately though, as a billionaire with a vast fortune that he was essentially born into, his appeal should be very limited. As everyone knows, 99% of soldiers do not come from privileged background and many struggle to find good jobs when they leave the service.

 Getting grenades throw at you when you are trying to take a shit is not a life choice that people who are born into wealth tend to gravitate towards making. I can understand that, I probably wouldn't have joined the Royal Marine Commandos, earned a Green Beret, and straddled the battlefield like a mighty colossus for a decade if my dad had enough money to pay me through university either. No judgement from me here.

"It was fun and all pop, but I really wish I had spent the last two years shitting in a cave instead" 

But Trump can never understand what it really means to be poor and working class, its something that has to be lived, and veterans do indeed live it. The same goes for Clinton, Cruz, and all the rest.

Recent data suggests that veterans in the United States are 

• Less likely to have a college degree
• Twice as likely to be homeless
• Make up 33% of the homeless community at any given time
• More likely to suffer from substance abuse problems
• More reliant on food and clothing banks
• At higher risk of suicide

And much more besides.

  Who do veterans think is  going to work the hardest to ensure that they get the  help as assistance they need when they leave the armed forces? A somewhat obnoxious billionaire with a numerous business interests, or a dyed-in-the-wool socialist type who has fought for better treatment for the poor and needy for his entire political career?

"When I was in the White House, we had to eat a member of our 60 man Secret Service team just to survive"

Sure he seems to view the world through a rose tinted lens. His views on immigration and the rehousing of asylum seekers from a troubled area when we have no sensible way of vetting them genuinely worries me, but America is a nation of checks and balances. He will not have the freedom to enact the most damaging aspects of his plans, because that is not how this country works. He is not the supreme leader, and the U.S. Constitution ensures he never will be. 

A Man with a Plan

But I can ignore all of that, because he at least has a vision, and will attempt to do the right thing for the neediest people in our society, of which, veterans are undoubtedly a very high proportion of. 

And even withough all of that, I can back Sanders for the simple fact that I think he has shown better judgment than Hillary Clinton in 3 very important ways.

Sanders seems to show genuinely good judgement with regard to his choices about war and foreign conflict. He is definitely smarter than some of the intelligence officers that I worked with, but then again, so is my nephew, and he is 6 years old and has lengthy conversations with his Easter eggs.

Bernie Sanders voted for the war in Afghanistan, and so would I.

Bernie Sanders voted against the war in Iraq, and so would I.

 Hillary Clinton, well, we all know that she voted for the war in Iraq, Bernie Sanders mentions it 6 days a week. I'm not judging her particularly badly for that, it was a stupid war, and a pointless one, but it could possibly be an honest mistake on her part rather than a cynical decision made to please some shadowy business interests. But as George W. Bush himself said... 

Let's have it said right here gents, on the record. Operation Iraqi Freedom was an absolute clusterfuck. It was as well thought out as the impluse purchases made in ports around the world when drunk sailors show up after months at sea.

 I did 2 tours in Iraq, it was a messy business. In places like they, they simply do not practice democracy like we do. They understand force, and they tread warily around the biggest dog in the kennel. We all know who that was.

"I don't smoke many cigars, but I like to smoke a fat one whenever Tariq Aziz"

Saddam Hussein was a bad-mother-fucker. He killed lots of people, but we had a dialogue with Saddam Hussein. He had a functioning country and a functioning government and we could actually work with him. Saddam was basically told he was good to go by the U.S. Government before the invasion of Kuwait that preceded Desert Storm. His now infamous meeting with U.S. ambassador April Glaspie is common knowledge, but let's not get into that here.

Saddam Hussein's Iraq was basically functioning as intended, deaths sat at a few thousand a year, and funny thing, because burying people up to their necks and throwing bricks at them until they are dead works as an active deterrent, secular killings (the Sunni/Shia debacle has cost over a million lives) were at a minimum. A strong and brutal leader kept a country with deep rooted societal divisions functioning as intended.

Post Saddam Hussein Iraq looks almost as bad as Sunderland.

Sunderland following a $90 million gentrification package

And Hillary Clinton wants to get rid of Bashar al-Assad. 

Doing the exact same thing and expecting different results is the very definition of stupidity. 

Assad is another bad-mother-fucker. He kills lots of people, but we had a dialogue with Bashar al-Assad. He had a functioning country and a functioning government and we could actually work with him. Bashar al-Assad kept secular killings at a minimum with force, and fear. But Bashar al-Assad was and is a secularist. His wife lived and educated in London, he protected the Christian minority of Syria with threats of force, and occasional, brutal actions of force too.

"Hafez! Hafez! Stand next to the clown and smile or I shall grind his bones to powder and leave him for the jackals!" 

 The work of the likes of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar is what saw him fighting a dirty civil war. A dirty civil war that started because all of those countries tacitly endorse Jihad. This is common knowledge. The propagation of Islam is the motivating factor. Erdogan has been encouraging the spread of Islamism in once secular Turkey for many years. The Saudis and many of their allies view getting rid of Ultra-Othodox ISIS as a problem that comes a distant second to ridding the world of Israel and spreading their faith. 

President Obama essentially wanted to carry on with the same ridiculous plan that George W Bush enacted, to replace a brutal dictator that kept a country stable, with a bunch of religious fanatics, one of which, ate a mans heart on camera. 

"Leave it to soften for twenty minutes in a puddle, garnish it with pubes..... fucking lovely"

The U.S. Government, the French Government, and the British Government, wanted to repeat the same mistakes we made in Iraq. 

It is criminally stupid, and makes me think the conspiracy theorists have a point. Rather than arming the rebels, we should have been covertly backing Assad. This would allow us to carry on the charade with our "allies" in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but still have a stable functioning country, and thus not have to worry even more about ISIS, as a strong Assad regime would make short work of the rebels, ISIS, and any other assholes that wanted to carve their own Caliphate out.

I'm glad these pricks are on our side

 So, whether Democrat or Republican, I can give any veteran 5 good reasons why Bernie Sanders is the best option. 

• Voted for the war that had a point, and against the one that didn't
• Spoke out against forcing an Assad regime change and opposed bombing Syria
• Is certain to increase spending for numerous Veterans programs
• Wishes to provide free college tuition, another boon for those with limited GI Bill funding.
• Nationalized health care would immeasurably benefit the many veterans that carry both physical and mental scars 
• I wouldn't believe Hillary Clinton's radio

Ok, that was six.