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Friday, December 30, 2016

Justice, not charity

It’s Time to Stop Giving Veterans Lip Service

If you think the U.S. government is too impoverished to give veterans the best care in the world, think again. America’s real problem is its eagerness to spend way more money taking people down, than lifting them up.

In this year’s $1.11 trillion discretionary budget, 54 percent was spent on making war, while only 6 percent went toward veteran’s benefits. 

It’s not hard to figure out why. 

One generates huge profits for corporations that make weapons, and the other doesn’t.

However, the unspoken issue has as much to do with political corruption, as it does with the failure of true capitalism.

Despite the illusion that big American corporations are the epitome of capitalism, many are heavily dependent on government assistance, contracts, tax breaks, and special rules in order to make money and stay in business.

For proof of just how much government help these so-called capitalists need, one needn’t look any further than the military contractors and other lobbyists that spend billions to create siphons between taxpayer money and the lawmakers who steer it. 

A list of the top 10 government contractors reads like a welfare program for billionaires. 
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Add that to the top spending lobbying groups, and it’s pretty easy to see why veterans aren’t the only Americans being conned by phony conservative budget hawks.
No matter what you may have heard on the 2016 campaign trail, our military is NOT a disastrous, depleted mess that needs a massive increase in taxpayer spending to resuscitate it.

The chart above is worth 598.5 billion words, or in this case dollars.

American veterans should not have to rely on outside groups to give them what they need. 

Instead, the politicians who sent them to war simply need to get their priorities straight and stop lying about how America has no money.

The discretionary budget is about priorities and choices, which is why elections matter, and people can’t go to sleep between them.

Now, more than ever, there is another war brewing. This one is between the American people and the politicians who are certain to ignore them — unless they’re ready to use their loudest voice to fight for an America that puts its people before corporate welfare and its most deadly sin.

Tell Congress what you think about what they’re doing to your country. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121

Maryann Tobin is the author of Afterlife: The Journey Of A Dog’s SpiritThis heartwarming story is told through the eyes of an animal spirit that has been sent back to earth in the body of a small dog. His mission is to help a young woman discover that their destinies are connected to the powers of the Spirit World more than either of them ever imagined. If you’ve ever shared your life with a dog or any other pet, you will never look at them the same way again after reading this book. It’s available now on Amazon.com.