Veterans ARE NOT Suckers and Losers!

 

by Pa Rock

Veteran Against Trump

More regarding campaign signage:

My good friend from college in the sixties, Xobekim, aka "Mike," lives just a few miles from Tim and Erin in an adjoining Kansas suburb of Kansas City.  He stopped by the house this morning and we went to breakfast at "The Big Biscuit" where the cook piled way too much grub onto my plate.  It was dark when we left the house - and Mike already had more that 10,000 steps for the day on his pedometer and I had about 200 on mine - but by the time we got back to the Macy casa in Roeland Park the sun was up and people were heading off to work and school.  Because we then had a view of the street, I told my old friend that I wanted him to see the signs that Tim's neighbor has up on his house.

The neighbor, who formerly served on active duty as a marine and currently has a son in the Marine Corps, has two large flags affixed to the front of his house, a US Stars and Stripes and the Marine Corps flag.  He also has three large signs, each approximately 18 inches by 30 inches, evenly spaced across the front of his home.  They are attractively displayed and not gaudy.  The one on the left says "Harris-Walz 2024" with an American flag flying over the lettering.  The sign on the middle portion of the house also shows an American flag along with "Veterans Against Trump" in large letters, and the third sign on the right side of the front of the house says boldly, "I'm a VETERAN:  Not a Sucker or a Loser."

We got out of Mike's truck on the street and as he read the neighbor's signs, my friend smiled and led me to the back of his truck where he had a large sign on the tailgate that I had not seen.  It read "Veterans are Not Suckers and Losers."  I guess I had been preaching to the choir!

I have ridden through much of this area today, first with Mike and later with my son, Tim.   All of the neighborhoods are awash in political signs, mostly for Harris and Walz and other Democratic candidates.  There is hardly anything up for Trump.   This is, of course, exactly the opposite of where I live in southern Missouri.

What makes the difference in the politics of rural areas versus those of the suburbs?   Without checking census data for backup, I would hazard a guess that the residents of the suburbs generally have more income and job security than those of us in rural areas, and that better jobs correlate with educational levels.  Education beyond high school opens more doors to better jobs which are often located in more populous areas, and better jobs put more money in people's pockets and more comfort in their lives - and with that comes less paranoia and more tolerance of others.

That's my speculation as to why people in different areas might see the world differently.  There's nothing scientific about it - just Pa Rock scratching his head with one hand and typing with the other.  I don't know much about anything, but I do know quite a few veterans - and there is not a sucker or a loser among them! 

The loser is the dilettante politician who refuses to walk to a French cemetery to honor America's war dead because he is concerned about mussing his hair.  The loser is the person who never wore his country's uniform but is quick to scorn those who have.   A loser is a person who denigrates the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest recognition of valor that our nation awards to its fighting men and women.

And the suckers are the people who offer up their blind allegiance to the loser.