by Peter John
As a boy I saw many who had opposed sending American forces to Vietnam spit upon returning troops. The lack of such behavior from even the most ardent war opponents has been encouraging during deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan (though protests at military funerals came close). It shocked me to see the first such behavior emerge yesterday, all be it figuratively, from the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Throughout the last decade Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) consistently voted for measures that removed hundreds of thousands of patriotic Americans from civilian jobs they had worked hard to secure. His votes enabled deployment of these National Guard and Reserve members to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yesterday, as the sole senator to oppose tax credits for hiring veterans, he affirmed they deserve no special privileges getting back jobs he helped take away.
Doing so, Sen. DeMint spat in the faces of returning veterans, who will never really be back home until they are gainfully employed. Currently such veterans remain unemployed at a 33 percent higher rate than other Americans – many of whom may owe their jobs to Guardsmen and Reservists who served. His vote exceeds simple hypocritical ingratitude.
Sen. DeMint’s votes to support veterans differed from this in prior years, before he aligned himself with the self-designated Tea Party movement. Many other senators took so-called Tea Party oaths to not increase government spending before entering this term in Congress. Sen. DeMint alone, through this action, has placed allegiance to that special interest above his oath as a United States Senator to uphold and defend the Constitution.
Certainly today he shakes hands and gives lip service to veterans still wiping his spit from their faces. Such empty praise rings hollow in the face of yesterday’s vote. If you feel the same, let him know. Employment preference for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is not just fair. It partially pays a debt the neglect of which morally bankrupts us.
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© 2011, by Peter John Stone. All Rights Reserved.
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