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Monday, March 11, 2013

A Question of National Security, Major Changes Are Needed


This week's blog is focused on an American issue, because I feel it is relevant. The next blog will be back to the fun Key West issues! I apologize to my friends outside the U.S. who look forward to the Key West Blog!

I don’t rant often, but here goes! I had watched a hearing about a week and a half ago where Admirals and Generals of all branches of the U.S. military were fielding questions from Congressmen regarding the budget cuts which had not been finalized at that point. The bottom line was that with the rate of training cut back, should the budget not be decided on, the state of readiness of U.S. troops would be substantially hindered. To the point that should next year’s budget be approved a year from now, it would take a year and a half to bring the military back up to the state of readiness that we have today. One of the congressmen asked the Marine General (sorry, I didn’t catch names) where he thought the President stood on the issue. The General stated categorically that in his conversations with the President, the President emphatically did not want the budget cuts to happen.  Regretfully what happened was the budget was not reached and consequently, we are cast in the direction of being at a far lesser state of military readiness. According to all of the Admirals and Generals, this is not an issue that is up for debate: It’s a fact.

What this amounts to is a byproduct  of the secular partys we have today in Washington D.C. When I was growing up Democrats and Republicans would argue until they were blue in the face on the House and Senate floors. That’s no different than it is today. However, what is different today than what was then is the key to why something like this has happened.

In those former years Congressman X, a Democrat, and Congressman Y, a Republican, would go out and play a round of golf, or perhaps go out for a cocktail and work out their differences there. While they had a difference of opinion, off the floor they were friends.

This doesn't happen today and the end result of it is that our state of military readiness has been seriously compromised. We’re talking about our national security. The bottom line is that our representatives in Washington D.C. have put the interest of their party, ahead of national security.

Myself, I fall somewhere in the middle of what the two parties fundamentally stand for. There are things that the Democrats go for that I’m all behind and things that the Republicans back that I side with.
However, if these people are so entrenched against each other that they are willing to put national security at risk, it’s time for them to step down because, fact of the matter: They are incapable of doing their jobs, plain and simple.

I see it every day on Facebook, where certain people have, not a difference of opinion, not a disagreement, but a down and out HATRED for, not only the other party, but the individuals in it. Wherever hate is involved, very bad things happen.  In this case “Very Bad” = Our national security has been very seriously compromised. That is the degree that this has advanced to.

Bottom line, whomever is so secularized in Washington D.C. that they view the other party as a disease and will not work with them, to the point of compromising national security, sorry, but they have to go. Their priorities are severely jaded. Likewise, anyone who is promoting hatred of a party, or individuals, be it a congressman, senator, or the President, you need to realize that these actions have helped escalate reducing Washington D.C. to the point where we've compromised our national security for the next two and a half years (one year down and a year and a half to recover).

 As it stands now, when the new budget kicks in, we’re two and a half years behind where we are now as far as the state of military readiness. That’s a fact and it’s not going to change. Now keep in mind that this is a time where we have potential powder kegs such as Iran, or North Korea which could fly off the handle at any given moment. If something were to happen and any U.S. forces are lost because of a lack of readiness, the fault lies with the individuals in Washington D.C. as well as all who support the isolationism and downright hatred between the parties.

We’re Americans. We may not agree with each other, however we are bound together with common goals. We’re two and a half years behind the eight ball in a volatile world. All Americans need to work together as one for the common goal of the country, not the goal of political parties.

It’s high time to cut the horse manure.

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