VETERANS CORNER: A political fire storm

by Gary Kennedy

Another week has come and gone. I am sad to report that we have entered the third week of the government shutdown. I have good and bad news regarding this matter. The bad news is this shutdown has allowed a legal pathway of eliminating miscellaneous government jobs. The Unions are fighting this tooth and nail. However, the president’s campaign promise of cleaning up the dead wood in the work force was a promise waiting for a way to happen. This shutdown has given him just that way. If, in fact, the job can be accomplished without those thousands of bodies the taxpayer will benefit. It’s claimed there are plenty of jobs out there to accommodate those bodies, especially those who were able to circumvent the system by working from home. In my many years of work this was unheard of. There are some benefits to being able to work from home, especially if you are a mom. However, this is an easy avenue for abuse and I think most of us have seen or know of situations where this is happening. In any case, I believe most of us can give plenty of reasons why this is a bad employment practice.

On the positive side the president has said that certain critical areas will be protected. He mentioned that he was able to move some money around assuring the U.S. military would be paid. Also, on the critical side of things, he mentions protecting our elderly and disabled veterans. So, we have no fear that those of us living on pensions or age related benefits will not see any interruption in our monthly checks. I believe we will also see the Cost of Living amount to be once again around 2.5 percent. This will be the same for both Disabled Veterans as well as Social Security recipients.

Unfortunately, this has become a political fire storm, as, so many hate our president and commander in chief. It’s a sad state of affairs that we find ourselves in at this point in time. I pray next week we will be able to report our coming together as our country is in a very precarious place at this time. Veterans are scratching their heads in confusion on how we could be in this position when the election was so unanimously in favor of the present administration. I hope we find a correct path soon. The world sees us as the peace maker of the world, ending so many wars in less than a year. I think of it as lives saved because our sons and daughters haven’t had to sight in their rifles and put boots on the ground. I am hoping we will have an era of veterans who don’t carry catastrophic injuries and are placed on the disability list. We have never had such a time, yet it is possible. I certainly don’t want my or other American children perishing on the battle field or riddled with painful injuries.

If you follow the news, and you should, you will see a country that may be a savior to the world but imploding within ourselves. I went to the Augusta capital building yesterday and saw many educated people, some I knew, carrying signs saying “no” to kings. Someone in another place starts this and has the ability to contact other states and start up protests about what they believe. For some reason some people can be led like sheep. We might not like our president’s style or personality and, yes, I agree, he can aggravate some of us but he is our president by majority vote and we should support him. “I personally” believe that time will tell the story. Arrogance can be distasteful as well as conceit but that is a personal opinion and not based on the result of action taken on our behalf. Next week I would like to talk more about V.A. and what it can do for those in need of medical.

Have a great weekend with your family, not many left. God bless and stay safe.

The views of the author of this column are not necessarily those of The Town Line newspaper, its staff and board of directors.