Mental Aikido: Names of the Fallen, and WHY they should be honored

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Names of the Fallen, and WHY they should be honored

I am NOT a fan of his politics, but...

Gary Trudeau, author and creator of Doonesbury, has, several times, done a Sunday strip for Memorial Day listing those who did not make it home from Iraq.

Agree with his generally left-wing slant or not, agree with his purpose in posting these names as the "cost too high" or not; the comic in and of itself is a tribute to those who paid the ultimate price for our continuing freedom from tyranny, terrorism, and the oppression of a socialist regime.

I will get on my own political soapbox here for just a moment and give some facts for those who wonder "what is wrong with social programs". Socialism is evil. It allows for tyrannic dictators to gain power of the people by enslaving them to a dependency upon government directed programs. It shackles creativity and progress, redistributing the wealth of those industrious producers who don't bend their knees to that elitist few. It steals the earned rewards from those who create and gives it to the undeserving, lazy leeches who believe themselves entitled, just for breathing, to what somebody else has earned through achievement. Then those shackled entitlement junkies become enslaved to those programs, afraid to loose their free lunch by actually doing something to better themselves.

These are facts, not conjecture. The proof is in history in regimes like Adolph Hitler's Socialist regime, Stalin's Socialist regime, and the Ba'ath Party (a socialist party) of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Their policy is to convince or force you to bend your knee and take the handouts, giving all your efforts to the causes they dictate and not the ones chosen by your own morality. They take away your power to choose. They oppress, destroy, of kill any who express a vision of greater good through personal gain (capitalism). You not longer get to build for your own merits, just labor for theirs. Industry belongs to the state and all incentive to innovate is crushed. There will be no more great inventions like "smartphones" or iPads or the internet or Hybrid cars or good running shoes.

Would you build a house for your family if you knew the government was going to tell you to let eight strangers move in with you? Would you buy a car if you were told that, in doing so, you had to drive 4 drug addicts to their dealers' houses every day on your way to work? Probably not. So, why support the social programs that are the stepping stones to that? Say no to "welfare". Say "no" to nationalizing and socializing the health care industry. Say "yes" to human innovation and invention. That is what creates jobs and the spirit to achieve, succeed, provide, and LIVE.

Ok, now that I put you through my tirade, I will make my true point. Every name here died fighting against a socialist regime and tyrannic extremist terrorism to make the world a better place for our country to thrive with a reduced risk threat of these things oppressing and killing the people of our great nation. That is what these great patriots fought and died for -- for you to LIVE, thrive, produce, think, and enjoy the blessings of liberty. You owe each of them your eternal gratitude; unless, of course, you are one of those elitist left-wingers seeking to oppress the little people and force others to "give back" to the undeserving in order to enslave them.

Here are the Sunday Comics (it may be easier to go to the links at the bottom and zoom the view to read):

By the way, it was through this comic, the second set, last panel, 5th name; that I found out about the death of my friend Schuyler. What a shitty way to find out, huh?