Our country is in trouble!

 Do Americans see what is happening to our country?    We have a president who refuses to lead and make decisions for the good of the country; he is totally political and living in his own world.   A few examples:

1. Our military is being downsized, navy ships, fighter aircraft and ground forces in the face of a rising China threat and Russia threatening us with nuclear war.  Appeasement with a smaller military is a dangerous direction.

2. Energy policy that thinks wind and solar can end the oil and gas industry is naive and dangerous.

3. Open border is also dangerous; drugs and crime increasing and immigrants being spread thoughout the country with no way of knowing who they are. Why don't we go after the cartels and take them down?

4. Government spending out of control;  inflation is coming soon and the president only brags about what he thinks is a growing economy; the opposite of what is  happening.

5. A refusal to enforce the law.   Allowing the protests of SCOTUS judges, the laws on  immigration, and a lack of support for police.   Crime in all major cities is rising with no remedy from the president or his DOJ.   We need a task force( Elliott Ness style) to clean up the cities; it was done once can be done again.

The direction of our country can be turned around by selecting new leaders and adopting aggressive policies not appeasing our enemies foreign and domestic.  It has to happen soon before it is too late.

 The Tragedy in Ukraine

Most Americans have great concern and compassion for the Ukrainian people, but our government is failing to project American power on behalf of Ukraine.    It appears that Putin has convinced our president that we must play by his rules or risk a wider war.   We need to remember that NATO is much more powerful than the Russian military, so we should deal from a position of strength not fear.  We should  put a marker down for Putin and give  him a date when the airspace over Ukraine will be closed to Russian aircraft and be enforced by NATO.   We must continue our shipments of arms to Ukraine and let Russia know not to interfere with humanitarian help.  Finally we can tell Putin all sanctions will be lifted on Russia if he withdraws completely from  Ukraine.   Nobody wants a world war, but we can't let the threat result in a policy of appeasement.   History has shown the tragic results of that policy.

 Another example of appeasement -

We did not learn from the debacle in Afghanistan as evidenced in the decisions being made in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.   We seem to base our decisions on a fear of escalation with Russia instead of exercising American power and let Russia worry about escalation.  We have it backwards.  Some examples:   We failed to support early before Russia invaded, and now we are concerned about our support being taken as escalation by Russia.  Recently we overlooked Poland's efforts to provide aircraft to Ukraine as well as Ukraine's requesting them; all based on a worry of Russia taking those actions as escalation by the US.   Very disappointing to see us act on the wrong assumptions in this conflict and fail to exercise American power and resolve.

 Three Wars, No Victory -Why? (By Bing West, National Review)

The author discusses three "hubs" of decision making in war, the military commanders, the policy makers, including POTUS, and the culture/society factors.

Vietnam 1965-1967 - Military strategy and policy makers take 100% of the blame for what the author calls a chaotic mess.

Vietnam 1968-1975 - The loss of South Vietnam was due to poor policy (under estimating the enemy) 30% and the popular mood in society 70% responsible.

In summary, we failed to win the war due to poor policy decisions and a failure to execute on the battlefield.  The enemy played a  huge role in the loss of popular support for the war (Tet and the final invasion by North Vietnam)   Providing the enemy "safe areas" and not attacking the north early in the war were all mistakes by policy makers based on a false premise of the enemy.  Remains a sad memory today for the veterans who served.

Iraq 2007-2011 - Military strategy 20% and policy  makers 80% for the mistakes made. (disbanding the Iraq Army, losing Fallujah to al-Quada

Iraq 2007-2021 - After successes, the policy decision makers were 100% responsible for the failures in Iraq, by twice pulling troops out of the country (2012 and 2019)

Afghanistan 2001-2021 - America's longest war and a failure to win is shared 50-50 by military strategy and policy decision makers. (providing sanctuary to the enemy and too much emphasis on nation building instead of defeating the enemy)

In summary, in all three wars the policy hub was primarily responsible for the failures.  In not one case did the president who initiated hostilities conclude (win) them before he left office.  Only Vietnam did the cuture play a role in failtures, in Iraq and Afghanistan the policy deciions snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The question is when will America learn from  history!

Comments added by Steve Altick

 Election - What's Next

Our country is in crisis, split down the middle with evidence of fraud and conspiracies abounding.  As veterans we must try and see through the fog of rhetoric and lies and align ourselves with the truth and speak out to the citizens of our country.  We need common sense leaders committed to the truth, we have a shortage of those now, so replacing the current crop of weak leaders is needed.   We can step up and educate people within our circle of influence and speak out every chance we get.  America needs us to be involved.

Will facts or emotions rule in 2020

 If you don't like Trump that's OK, but how about an objective look at what he has accomplished.

Economy growth at record levels is unquestioned

Funding the military at realistic levels and building up resources

Inner city help with economic zones and school choice for parents

More jobs, lowest unemployment in history, including minorities

Cutting burdensome regulations to allow growth and reduced times for construction

Built the wall

Middle East peace chances greatly  increased

Support for Israel, moving embassy

Religious liberty protected

The most pro life president

Not afraid to meet with dictators, fact - no N Korean tests since the meeting

Trade increased and  favorable to the US

Law and Order is a priority for second term

There is more on the list, but will citizens listen, and think about their families and what the future holds if we change administrations in the middle of all the positive results.   There should not be a question of who to vote for if one is objective and sees past emotional dislike to focus on results.

I may  not like his tweets, but I love the results over the past four years.

He has my vote!

The Limits On Power

The pandemic has introduced a new threat to our democracy; state governors overstepping their authority by the limiting of constitutional freedoms of citizens.   The constitution assures us of freedoms: to worship, assemble, and free speech.  The state legislatures have the power to make laws and assign penalties, but only if they are constitutional.   Governors do not make laws and cannot take our freedoms away by edicts and orders.   The check on runaway authority of the executive of a state is the legislature with their oversight.   It is  time, in many states, for the legislatures to step up on behalf of their citizens.