Posted on Feb 2, 2018
Do you believe your time in the military influenced your political leanings? Did those leanings change much when you left the service?
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Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 127
I can say no. I've been of the belief that all politicians are corrupt jacktards that need term limits.....and to stop working for themselves and to start working for the people like it was intended.
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SSgt Michael Bowen
No But it did give me a better understanding of the importance Of the Constitution and the rights there in . And how hard it is getting to exercise and keep our rights
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PO1 Richard Norton
There is corruption in both parties. We the People have allowed this by continually re-electing the same people election after election.
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MSG (Join to see)
PO1 Richard Norton - Because people are more afraid of the unknown and would rather vote for the person they KNOW to screw them over than possibly face something different.
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More than most life experiences, my time in the military influenced my political viewpoint. You realize you have signed up to put your life on the line for your country, but not for one political party or political leader. You agreed to protect and defend the Constitution--a document that embodies the very heart of what it means to be a Citizen.
My college professors were a mix of conservative and liberal. My history professors tended to be more conservative while the PolySci profs were more liberal. A balance you probably won't find on campus today. I worked my way through college, so I had a healthly respect for a pay check and the taxes taken therefrom. This was in the 1960s. I neither demonstrated against the Vietnam war nor against the growing social welfare state. I was working and studying too hard to pay much attention.
During my active duty time, we were encouraged to register and vote in our home state or the state where we were assigned. The voting age has just been lowered to 18. We were also encouraged to not discuss politics in the workplace and briefed regularly on when and where we could or could not wear the uniform or attribute our views in relation to our employment. Mostly, I kept quiet about my political views. I voted for candidates who supported the military with better pay and improved equipment. This lead me to consistently vote Republican in national elections.
As I got older and studied politics more, I became more convinced of my conservative position. After retirement, I came to understand the liberals hated the very country and people they were elected to serve. They created problems so they could institute big government programs to solve them, but really only created more problems. Think war on poverty, The Great Society, or war on drugs. The Obama years were a tragedy in my opinion because the people elected a President and Congress that set out to undermine the basic principles of that Constitution I had sworn to uphold so many years ago. They did it for self-aggrandizement and to teach the white, middle-class Americans how wrong we were about the way we should live our lives and govern our country. Thankfully the government under the Constitution worked and the people kept the social democrats from going too far by electing Republican Congresses and later a Republican President. (It helped that the Democrats ran one of the worst candidates ever for President in 2016.) I believe the US is on the way back to greatness. Out 8-year swerve into socialism will be corrected as quickly as the Republicans can fix it.
My college professors were a mix of conservative and liberal. My history professors tended to be more conservative while the PolySci profs were more liberal. A balance you probably won't find on campus today. I worked my way through college, so I had a healthly respect for a pay check and the taxes taken therefrom. This was in the 1960s. I neither demonstrated against the Vietnam war nor against the growing social welfare state. I was working and studying too hard to pay much attention.
During my active duty time, we were encouraged to register and vote in our home state or the state where we were assigned. The voting age has just been lowered to 18. We were also encouraged to not discuss politics in the workplace and briefed regularly on when and where we could or could not wear the uniform or attribute our views in relation to our employment. Mostly, I kept quiet about my political views. I voted for candidates who supported the military with better pay and improved equipment. This lead me to consistently vote Republican in national elections.
As I got older and studied politics more, I became more convinced of my conservative position. After retirement, I came to understand the liberals hated the very country and people they were elected to serve. They created problems so they could institute big government programs to solve them, but really only created more problems. Think war on poverty, The Great Society, or war on drugs. The Obama years were a tragedy in my opinion because the people elected a President and Congress that set out to undermine the basic principles of that Constitution I had sworn to uphold so many years ago. They did it for self-aggrandizement and to teach the white, middle-class Americans how wrong we were about the way we should live our lives and govern our country. Thankfully the government under the Constitution worked and the people kept the social democrats from going too far by electing Republican Congresses and later a Republican President. (It helped that the Democrats ran one of the worst candidates ever for President in 2016.) I believe the US is on the way back to greatness. Out 8-year swerve into socialism will be corrected as quickly as the Republicans can fix it.
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SrA Daniel Hunter
Interesting perspective Sir. I have had similar experience regarding the differences between my PolySci professors and my History professors. Both in undergrad and graduate school. I wonder if conservatives are more inclined to history or if history develops conservatives. Like wise for liberals and Polysci.
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SFC Robert Escher
SGT Kyle Walker - the ACA. Was not ruled constitutional under the General Welfare clause but because Justice Roberts decided that it was a Tax and therefor Constitutional. That is why under Trump and this Years Tax cuts it was removed ( the mandate)
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SPC Samantha Stapley
SSG (Join to see) - "Next, staying that healthcare is a right is socialism. Healthcare is a service. You are enslaving healthcare providers and systems based on the premise that it is a right that all people must have. If an individual is in a bad position with healthcare or is unhappy with their healthcare they have the opportunity to work and gain their own advantage into the system. Mandating healthcare has proven that it is a failed system with the ACA. Watch it crumble!"
I just want respond to this one point. I personally think healthcare should be a right, not an elective. I'm not sure how a person can have "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" if they don't have their health, or life for that matter. I don't care if it is socialist or not. It IS a right that all people should/must have. No one is enslaving healthcare providers and forcing those to provide care. People still have the choice to be a healthcare provider, and nothing is going to stop that. Maybe we see less providers if the cost goes down, but I seriously doubt that.
You state that if an individual is in a bad state with healthcare, that they should shop around or that they have the opportunity to work, but that's not true either. My example: both my husband and I worked full time, we were financially stable, and we both had health insurance. My daughter was born very sick. I had to stop working as she could not be in daycare or at a sitters house. (She has a multitude of issues) We still made too much to qualify for any government assistance, yet we didn't make enough to cover premiums, deductibles, out of pocket costs, and the medications that were considered non essential, and therefor not covered by our insurance company. Her medications were stronger than most, and I had to use a veterinary pharmacy to get her rx's filled because it was a "liability" to the pharmacies to have them filled. We DIDN"T have any option to shop around for health insurance. Taking any time off of work would have been detrimental to our financial status, and this is a common occurrence with many people who encounter a health crisis that they were not prepared for.
What about those that get cancer, can't work, lose their employer based health insurance while getting treatment. What about those that lose a job, and then find another one 10 months later, but now have to wait the up to 5 years to have coverage for their pre-existing condition.
What about those, like me, that has yearly cap, or even a policy cap of a million dollars, yet the liver transplant my daughter needed, all said and done, was TWO MILLION DOLLARS!!!! Should we be required to come up with a million dollars? Why does it even cost that much?
I am all about the free market, but healthcare shouldn't be something that is sold, it needs to be regulated and controlled. It is a right and a responsibility of a first world country to take care of its citizens, and that includes healthcare.
My own rant and opinion, I have lived the horror of navigating healthcare and wanted to voice my thoughts is all.
I just want respond to this one point. I personally think healthcare should be a right, not an elective. I'm not sure how a person can have "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" if they don't have their health, or life for that matter. I don't care if it is socialist or not. It IS a right that all people should/must have. No one is enslaving healthcare providers and forcing those to provide care. People still have the choice to be a healthcare provider, and nothing is going to stop that. Maybe we see less providers if the cost goes down, but I seriously doubt that.
You state that if an individual is in a bad state with healthcare, that they should shop around or that they have the opportunity to work, but that's not true either. My example: both my husband and I worked full time, we were financially stable, and we both had health insurance. My daughter was born very sick. I had to stop working as she could not be in daycare or at a sitters house. (She has a multitude of issues) We still made too much to qualify for any government assistance, yet we didn't make enough to cover premiums, deductibles, out of pocket costs, and the medications that were considered non essential, and therefor not covered by our insurance company. Her medications were stronger than most, and I had to use a veterinary pharmacy to get her rx's filled because it was a "liability" to the pharmacies to have them filled. We DIDN"T have any option to shop around for health insurance. Taking any time off of work would have been detrimental to our financial status, and this is a common occurrence with many people who encounter a health crisis that they were not prepared for.
What about those that get cancer, can't work, lose their employer based health insurance while getting treatment. What about those that lose a job, and then find another one 10 months later, but now have to wait the up to 5 years to have coverage for their pre-existing condition.
What about those, like me, that has yearly cap, or even a policy cap of a million dollars, yet the liver transplant my daughter needed, all said and done, was TWO MILLION DOLLARS!!!! Should we be required to come up with a million dollars? Why does it even cost that much?
I am all about the free market, but healthcare shouldn't be something that is sold, it needs to be regulated and controlled. It is a right and a responsibility of a first world country to take care of its citizens, and that includes healthcare.
My own rant and opinion, I have lived the horror of navigating healthcare and wanted to voice my thoughts is all.
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LT Mike Folker
Time in the Navy never altered my political views. I voted for Reagan in 1980, not because I thought he was the stellar candidate but because two people I admired--Eugene McCarthy & Ralph Abernathy--endorsed him. I did not vote for Reagan in 1984. I voted for Obama in 2008; did not vote for him in 2012.
Otherwise, your last paragraph there is a ripe collection of platitudes. "Conservative" & "liberal" mean nothing in the US of A: they did once; not anymore. "Social democrat" is a European label & is used in error by Americans, including the press & Sen. Sanders.
I wrote in our Maryland Republican governor's name for Pres. in 2016, because he announced early on that he would never support Donald Trump. The Gov. was not a registered write-in candidate, & my Pres. vote did not count. I read later that the Gov. cast his Pres. vote for his own father, who was an MD congressman during the Nixon years. The Gov.'s vote did not count either.
My folks liked to called themselves conservative & voted for Nixon in 1960 & Goldwater in 1964. Don't recall them being enthusiastic about the 1968 Nixon or the 1980 Reagan. Our mom said later she would have voted for JFK in 1964, had he been alive to run.
I don't think political party partisanship is even a valid issue. Conservatives, Republicans = pro-military; Democrats, liberals = anti-military? Yet, during the acme of the defense spending under Pres. Reagan, funding strictly for ground forces (e.g., Soldier Systems Center, Natick, MA) <1% of defense budget.
But then I firmly believe that the 2016 Pres. campaign & election were acts of sedition: two wealthy, well-educated white candidates that were terminally ignorant, illiterate, & inarticulate & that had absolutely no concept of government. It's awfully encouraging that posters here believe in the Constitution, but if you told that to those 2016 Pres. candidates, they'd laugh & look puzzled.
Otherwise, your last paragraph there is a ripe collection of platitudes. "Conservative" & "liberal" mean nothing in the US of A: they did once; not anymore. "Social democrat" is a European label & is used in error by Americans, including the press & Sen. Sanders.
I wrote in our Maryland Republican governor's name for Pres. in 2016, because he announced early on that he would never support Donald Trump. The Gov. was not a registered write-in candidate, & my Pres. vote did not count. I read later that the Gov. cast his Pres. vote for his own father, who was an MD congressman during the Nixon years. The Gov.'s vote did not count either.
My folks liked to called themselves conservative & voted for Nixon in 1960 & Goldwater in 1964. Don't recall them being enthusiastic about the 1968 Nixon or the 1980 Reagan. Our mom said later she would have voted for JFK in 1964, had he been alive to run.
I don't think political party partisanship is even a valid issue. Conservatives, Republicans = pro-military; Democrats, liberals = anti-military? Yet, during the acme of the defense spending under Pres. Reagan, funding strictly for ground forces (e.g., Soldier Systems Center, Natick, MA) <1% of defense budget.
But then I firmly believe that the 2016 Pres. campaign & election were acts of sedition: two wealthy, well-educated white candidates that were terminally ignorant, illiterate, & inarticulate & that had absolutely no concept of government. It's awfully encouraging that posters here believe in the Constitution, but if you told that to those 2016 Pres. candidates, they'd laugh & look puzzled.
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As a teenager, I was conservative, working on the campaigns of Barry Goldwater in 64 and Edward Brooke in 66. I didn't vote in my first election until 1972. (21 was the voting age) At that time I had been out of the Army for just over a year and I cast my presidential vote for McGovern. Several years later I was having a cool one in a honkytonk in Texas when a young lady sitting next to me said "If you want to see your paycheck rise steadily, vote republican. While not the end all be all, I started leaning back to the right. Now I am a deplorable.
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Suspended Profile
I have been conservative ever since I even thought about it, though I didn't actually use the term then. Politics were harder to quantify and conservative information was definitely harder to come by. ABC, NBC, and CBS had a strangle hold on what we saw and used to form opinions. Back in the late 60s/erly 70s I felt isolated. Talk radio was the big source that broke the big three stranglehold. The libs tried to muscle in to the talk radio scene but have never found a formula that works. Every time they tell the truth about themselves they flop. Long story short... my opinions were formed as a kid or pre-teen before I joined the service and were reinforced in the service.
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