Who Cares About Our Veterans?

Senator Webb and the Democrats stand with our veterans. Republicans? Not so much.

Facebook via the Democratic Party of Virginia.

Some discussion at the comments to this picture:

From Bob C:  

I served as a Marine officer for 8 years. Are they owed, yes. I wish Senator Webb would expand on that.

Today's military personnel have incredible opportunities to lean a trade, get an education, etc. I have hired many vets and will continue to do so. Deployed active duty military and civilians serving our nation abroad are exempt from paying taxes. That is the law. They are not part of Romney's 47%.

The ones that Romney is pointing to are the freeloaders. The ones who abuse the system and take advantage of the system. I am going to research veterans bill votes to see what that entails. I am also going to research the culture of necessity comments also because I have a hard time buying into the concept of multigenerational poverty in a country as great as ours. I don't despise and scorn the poor. People do encounter setbacks and help should be temporary. I will do my homework and post the results on my fb page.

Carla replied:

Who are you to judge, Bob, who is worthy of help and who is not? You're not the one hearing their stories or learning of their experiences or having to figure out some desperate individual who sorely needs it. You like veterans, so you try to parse them away from the "others" who exist largely in your mind and the minds of those who have so poisoned your outlook that you are persuaded most people receiving assistance are somehow unworthy of it, even though you know NOTHING of their own circumstances or of the circumstances under which they're receiving such aid. 

You're satisfied that you know enough because you've heard that there are people freeloading off the rest of us, and you trust what you've heard rather than question it, so that way you do not have to worry about the moral peril posed by advocating harsh measures toward those who for a variety of reasons CANNOT help themselves or who are helping themselves but not enough to keep them from utter destitution and therefore require more.  What we know is that out of that 47% identified by Mr. Romney some 60% are paying INTO the system through payroll deductions.  Large numbers of them are seniors, the disabled, disabled veterans, and children.  Pick which ones you think are the freeloaders.

If you REALLY want to do something about that culture of dependency Bob you should express your outrage that so many of those people ARE employed but earning so little that they qualify for aid. Why don't you direct your anger at their employers, starting with Walmart, for skating on the public's dime with its inadequate pay which is so low that full time workers there still qualify for food stamps?

Another reply:

Are you really saying that you think that nearly half of this country's population are "freeloaders"? Romney says that it's this percentage of the country that is not only stealing from the government and fellow citizens, but, coincidentally, is voting for his opponent.

I, sir, have worked since I was 16 years old. The only thing I have taken from this government is approximately $15k in college grants, and I would like to think the government has received that back in taxes. There were times when, in retrospect, I know my father and I would have qualified for government aid--- food stamps at the very least. We never applied for or received aid, but if we did, I don't think that would have made us freeloaders. I have worked hard for every goddamned penny that I have made, and for you and Mr. Romney to say that just because I have a difference of opinion with you, and that just because I am not voting for your candidate, that I am or ever have been a freeloader, is truly insulting and arrogant, and everything I dislike about the political party you apparently support. I have voted Republican many times in the 23 years since I became voting age, but I haven't since 2001. After this year, I don't think I ever will again. You disgust me. Good day sir.

And re the matter at hand, Senator Webb has supported veterans-- even ones such as yourself-- for as long as I can remember, and with more vigor and passion than anyone I know. You really should be ashamed of yourself. He is an honorable man making a true difference in people's lives. What are you doing to benefit society?

My comments:

Bob wrote:  "Today's military personnel have incredible opportunities to lean a trade, get an education, etc. I have hired many vets and will continue to do so. Deployed active duty military and civilians serving our nation abroad are exempt from paying taxes. That is the law. They are not part of Romney's 47%."

Bob, that's the whole point.  Romney painted 47% of the population with a broad brush.  He demeaned and disparaged people who don't pay taxes WITHOUT EXCEPTION no matter why they don't pay taxes.  He put active duty military who are exempt from paying taxes in the same big bowl with the people you consider lazy losers and "dependents".  He didn't say "Those 47% who don't pay taxes are lazy losers with no sense of personal responsibility-- except for the active military, disabled vets, retired vets, other retired seniors, kids in school who work part-time, low-income families with a kid or two, other low income people, perhaps with so many medical expenses that they don't have to pay federal income tax." If he said that, he would have had only a couple of percent of people, not 47%.  

Now, Bob, you know why active military people don't pay taxes.  You are quick to come to their defense, as you should, as should all of us.  You probably know why many disabled and retired vets don't pay federal income taxes, and I doubt that you would consider them "freeloaders".  If pushed, you would probably say that other senior citizens and disabled people, most of whom had worked for decades, people who who are living on social security and not much more (and therefore don't pay federal income taxes) are also not "freeloaders".

Maybe someone would explain to you that, among the millions who don't pay federal income taxes, are students working part-time.  Maybe someone would explain to you that, among the millions who don't pay federal income taxes, are the working poor and near poor, many of whom have children, and many of whom, as Carla mentioned, make so little that they qualify for many government programs and don't pay federal income taxes.

All of those people, active military, disabled vets, retired vets, low-income seniors, low-income disabled people, students working part-time, low-income workers and low-income families with children, were demeaned and dismissed by Mitt Romney.  He said that ALL of these people, all of the 47% who don't pay federal income taxes, are victims, are dependent, show no personal responsibility, and think they are "entitled".

 But somehow you still think that most of the 47% are "lazy losers", people who are part of "generations of dependency", and people who abuse the system.  You have no figures, no proof as to how many of the 47% are lazy losers.  Romney didn't either, but he let that red herring out to stink when he talked to those rich folks.  And somehow you believe that everybody who isn't active military and doesn't pay taxes is a lazy loser who abuses the system.  

Shame on you.