TheWiseOldFart

Our nation’s leadership at all levels is dominated by hypocrisy. One issue I have addressed multiple times involves our nation’s military who serve in war zones at the will of Congress and the Pentagon. It’s been the same old story all of my life, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon tells Congress that they need more troops to win the war, and they say how many. With each increase in the number of soldiers ready to give their lives for who knows what, the number of body bags is doubled. The fat asses who sit in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill will not be risking their lives or the lives of their children in battle. The irony is that our military leaders have lost every illegal and immoral war since WWII. The sad truth is that none of the young men I knew who were forced to fight in Vietnam knew what they were fighting for. I make an admission here about my negative personal feelings for the military. However, it has no influence in this story. In the mid 1960’s the war ...

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   In my youth I was taught one lesson above all others, to respect authority. In the 1950s this included my priest, the nuns, my mother, our nation’s leaders, the military, law enforcement, and virtually anyone older than I was. This may have been a reality in my youth, I’m not sure. However today, at age 77, I know I was taught some lessons which were not entirely accurate. First and foremost respect cannot be given freely, it must be earned. The 21 st century is the communication age, where information is instant, thanks to an array of communication satellites circling the earth, the truth is exposed, and cannot always be hidden as it was in the past. Therefore, nearly every individual or group on my previous list no longer has my respect. By the time I reached my junior year in high school I no longer believed in religion. I learned that every faith-based organization is founded on fairy tales, and religions were not founded by gods, but...