Support the Troops My Ass

I personally believe in the fundamental rights of every American, and that support for troops is no more important than support for teachers, doctors, plumbers, and every other man, woman and child in this country. Republicans by their words value support for the troops above all else. Republicans by their actions don't support anyone but their corporate benefactors.

Today the Senate struck down an amendment by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) to exempt service members from bankruptcy restrictions favored in the horrible bankruptcy "reform" bill. This bill, written by credit card companies, seeks to make it near impossible for lower and middle-income Americans to ever get out of debt (through daconian "means-testing" statutes), while instituting a huge loophole for the wealthy, allowing them to hide their cash reserves domestically, in any of five states (AK, DE, NV, RI, UT), through asset protection trusts. As the New York Times writes, "People who want to establish trusts do not have to reside the five states; they need only set their trust up through an institution in one of them." I'm thinking that rule isn't designed for the $8-an-hour crowd.

One-half of all bankruptcies are due to soaring medical costs. All of these things are connected. Tigthening bankruptcy rules force the uninsured or poorly insured to be in debt for the rest of their lives. They'll then be more amenable to risky Social Security schemes to recoup their losses through bankruptcy. This is the "digging a hole" economy. I don't have a problem with personal responsibility in bankruptcy, but this bill does exactly the opposite, shifting responsibility away from the wealthy who simply don't want to pay, while shifting the burden onto those for whom the bankruptcy is beyond their control.

And one significant portion of that group are those in the National Guard, who have to substitute their regular working pay with the pittance received from the government for active duty, who have seen their health care go up and their hazardous duty pay go down, whose life insurance policies are laughably bad, and who now have no recourse should they, by virtue of being stuck in Iraq for years, get behind on their bills.

Significantly, 38 Vermont communities voted for a resolution condemning the Iraq War, and asking that the federal government return its National Guard troops back to the state. Vermont has lost more soldiers per capita than any state, and has the second highest mobilization rate for its National Guard and reservists. THAT'S support for the troops. Recognizing that the National Guard is being used beyond its original intent, and making a grassroots effort to overturn it. It wasn't so long ago that the GOP was considered the party of state's rights. I guess that was before they got into Washington.