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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RMF who wrote (9423)	6/15/2006 7:02:18 PM
From: Jim S	Respond to of 71588

The Vets that came back from WWI didn't have much in the way of benefits or any help at all. Some of them camped out around the whitehouse to try and get a bonus they thought had been promised them. They didn't fare too well. That's an understatement. Majors Eisenhauer, Patton, and McArthur chased them off the Capital grounds in a cavalry charge, killing several and destroying all the possessions of those who escaped. Compare that to today's vets (of whom I'm one) who get pensions and medical care almost for just hearing the terms "Agent Orange" or PTSD. But, I disagree that this has anything to do with capitalism; I'm more of the opinion that it has to do with the way the nation, and thus Congress, views the military. Up until WWII, professional military people were assumed to be in the military because they were incapable of doing anything else. Those who answered their country's call for WWI were supposed to sacrifice, that was their duty, and they weren't supposed to be asking for any special favors after they'd done their duty. My maternal grandfather was one of those who returned from France with respitory ailments from mustard gas. Somewhere around 1950, he was finally granted about a $20/mo pension. He was proud as hell of that pension, not because he needed the money, but because it meant, to him, that his country was finally recognizing his service. Like you, I don't mind paying taxes. Reasonable taxes, that is. What infuriates me is the complexity of the tax code. It should be considered criminal for Congress to produce a tax code so complicated that an average high school graduate can't fill out his annual tax return in a couple hours. Which is all off-topic, but a fun conversation! <GGG>