If there is a more despicable truth in our nation, it is the fact that when our nation’s soldiers come home from the wars our government decided to wage, they no longer have any interest in their welfare from our elected officials. Democrats and Republicans alike no longer brag about their service, or claim to support their future needs. These are forgotten men and women you see when you go to the grocery store who are holding signs begging for assistance.

America is not a great country, and there are many reasons why this is a fact. We remain the most racist nation in the developed world. Our government places women in a secondary or even a tertiary role. Our elected officials wave the flag proudly when our nation’s young men and women wage unwinnable wars to support the ambitions of our nation’s politicians. When they come home they cast them aside and consider them and their family as collateral damage.

Every day 50 to 60 thousand men and women who served in our nation’s wars which were waged on falsehoods and ignorance are forced to sleep on the streets or in the parks of our nation. The reasons are despicable. Mental illness related to post traumatic stress disorder after multiple deployments to war zones are virtually ignored by our government and the Veteran’s Administration. The statistics validate the revelations of many groups who actually have concerns about our former military men and women. The vernacular is that our government “doesn’t give a damn” about our military when they return from the battlefield.

Our government is controlled by the Republican Party. They continue to support increases in the budget for the Pentagon. This is not an effort support and protect our troops who actually serve in wars, it is intended to protect the military brass who waste more than 50 percent of their annual funding, and are unable to win wars in the 21^st century. Our nation sends thousands of our finest men and women to fight wars which are nothing more than suicide missions while wealthy Americans who are invested in the military industrial complex reap huge profits from wars our nation continues to lose.

We must stop the insanity. Our military cannot win wars in the 21^st century. Our old and failed military leaders are out of touch with reality. They send our finest into battles which are nothing more than suicide missions.

Time for change, and that change is ending the very existence of the Republican Party. Vote in November.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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