Gratitude Not Politics

Click here to see easy ways to show gratitude to our military. A universal sign of appreciation for those who serve us anywhere.

In the United States we enjoy a patriotic, volunteer, non-politicized military that answers to a civilian leadership that changes at least once every eight years and sometimes sooner. There are lots of ways to say thanks to our military for volunteering, training and then performing the mission that their civilian leadership has called for.

Find at least one and practice it frequently all the while campaigning for a different policy if so inclined.

Each of us should realize and be grateful that there are troops who do not support the policies of their Commander in Chief, our President, but nontheless obey orders and take on missions they receive from their chain of command which is always headed by an always limited term president.

Do not politicize the military. Be careful not to undermine our military by confusing them or trying to recruit them while in uniform or otherwise engage these special citizens with policy, missions or policymakers.

Criticize all who do, even the Commander in Chief.

Support our troops while expressing disagreement with the policies you disagree with.

Vote out the policymakers you disagree with in every election. Elections happen regularly and are not controlled by the candidates, they are controlled by citizens at the ground level. If you think differently, get involved and get educated.

While all that may seem difficult for you, if our individual troops whose lives are immediately on the line can do their part, surely you can do your different part. And do it without undermining an institution that during may actions through out our history, all of which were controversial at the time by some, and through out the world, have helped you maintain the safety and freedom so many of us take for granted.

None of this says that any of our governments, or any of their actions might not have been better contemplated, or better avoided or better executed.

The very lives of our troops are all to often literally on the line. Can’t we as civilian citizens in this imperfect but wonderful country, find a way to express our views and give real, serious and sustained support for the current groups of soldiers? They are toiling in the tradition of previous patriots who followed our then current Commander in Chief, in various military campaigns, and I repeat ALL WERE CONTROVERSIAL in some way, but which have on the whole been greatly responsible for the freedoms we do in fact enjoy however unfair we may in fact have been to some one or some group of people.

The application of power will always be subject to deserved criticism.

No matter what you think of the Commander in Chief or his or her policies, if you do not support the troops while they perform the mission you disapprove of, you are not supporting the troops.

Not doing so will give you a low HypMeter rating when the Chief Hypocrite gets around to you and others who may deserve the recognition.

As a pacifist at heart and a pragmatist in my head, I have some agreement with Dennis Kucinich. I suggest that we begin seriously a debate for a new agency, perhaps called the Department of Peace perhaps inside the State Department.

As a pragmatists I believe that no one respects the application of our power unless it immediately results in an immediate widely appreciated change, and that is usually unlikely to happen in todays geomilitia political realities. No matter what you or I think about the policies this or any administration has put forth, each and every citizen who looks at history, including that before the US existed, must realize that the hearts of mankind seems incapable of caring more for the other than for the self in the fullness of time and the historical political complexity that exits.

The peace we all hope for may, or may not be within our domain to achieve. Regardless, let’s keep trying, as doing so feels right.