OUR TROOPS DESERVE BETTER
How Could Our Leaders Do This to
Our Troops?
By Gerald Molen
Published October 11, 2010 | FoxNews.com
It’s utterly amazing that our nation’s leadership is able to send our troops around the world and overnight have sleeping quarters (known in military parlance as “billets”) constructed to house them.
It is equally amazing that the required arms (bullets) can be shipped with equally profound efficiency and timely deliverance to any spot determined by that same leadership, anywhere in the world.
And yet, the same leadership fails to deliver election ballots to the very people who defend the right to vote for every other American. Is that a failure in leadership?
I come to this moment of truth not as a Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian, far left or far right zealot but as an American.
As a former United States Marine, I find it utterly unconscionable that our troops are denied the same rights as those citizens who refuse to even bend over and pick up a piece of trash they have so selfishly discarded on the street…
In fact, I find it contemptible in a country that can ship men to the moon and bring them back with pinpoint accuracy, can ship a letter or package from the back hills of Montana to any point in the country overnight — with the guarantee of having it there before 3 p.m. the next day; can ship cargo the size of a tank overnight to any place in the world, can take advantage of new technologies and send messages around the world in a nano second, can deliver political campaign ads with efficiency and with certain specificity; can fly a group of politicians overnight to any desired location on the planet and can not or will not ship ballots to our men and women who put themselves at risk every day so that the rest of the country can vote.
Yes, it’s a pretty dire situation when the commander in chief and his selected and even elected minions allow such a travesty of justice.
It struck me rather strange that our very own president who finds time to speak about equal rights, equal benefits and equal outcomes for all is so reluctant to better serve those he asks to pay the ultimate price for their country.
The president has signed numerous executive orders, using his position of power and decree to affect our lives as he sees best but he withholds demanding equal justice for our troops.
It amazes me that nearly every elected representative and senator, governor and mayor has yet to stand up and scream at the top of their lungs to stop the unequal treatment of our troops. Above all else, they should see to it that our men and women in the service of their country, should be first in line at the ballot box. Why have they not done this?
Why not? Can it be because those serving their country in the military may have a tendency to vote their conscience and there is a fear that it may just be a bit too conservative for those who make those decisions?
In my humble opinion, as an American first, and as an avid supporter of all our troops, regardless of their political affiliation, any politician who will not support the rights of those in harm’s way and do everything in their power to get them the opportunity to vote should either resign, quit, move on or step aside in the disgrace they so richly deserve.
And to you Mr. President, have you forgotten that as commander in chief you took an oath to serve all the people? Shouldn’t that include voting rights for the troops? To do otherwise is an insult to all who serve.
Gerald R. Molen is an Oscar-winning Hollywood producer and former Marine.
