This site grows out of my point of view as an individual. It grows out of my experiences as a military wife where life worked as long as I and my husband played our "cog in the machine" role and it grows out of me trying to make my life work post-divorce.
I recently joked that the US military is like a communist country. That isn't some kind of political criticism. It's just to say that while so many Americans struggle with the high cost of housing and trying to afford medical care, military members and their dependents get a lot of those basics covered by the military in a way that moves a lot of issues out of their way.
As a military wife, I never had to wonder if I could afford to see a doctor or take my kids to see a doctor. I saw a doctor if I thought medical care was in order. Period.
I didn't have to budget and plan for retirement. If he made it to twenty years, he was going to have a retirement check and benefits.
Military members who are single can live in the barracks and eat in the mess hall. If they blow their entire paycheck on partying and buying an expensive stereo their first weekend, they have to eat at the mess hall until they get paid again and can't afford to go to McDonald's or Burger King but they aren't going to go hungry.
Married members get paid a housing allowance and cost of living adjusted for the local area. If they get on-base housing, I think they pay for phone service but no other utilities.
I don't feel I need to specifically look to Europe for ideas about how the US can do better by its people. I think you can look at what the US military does to find ideas for how to take better care of the American people.
Of course, honor and good character are a big part of military service. You get those benefits for serving your country and raising your right hand and swearing to die for the cause if necessary.
When I was a military wife, there was an incident where members of the military tried to get out of going to a war zone by claiming conscientious objector status. They had only joined for the college fund but supposedly had moral objections to actually going to war.
They were court martialed and thrown in the brig. No, you don't get to bleed the military for college benefits and then renege on your end of the deal when they ask you to go to war.
Of course, the movie Hacksaw Ridge comes to mind. It's based on a true story and Doss apparently went to court to defend his right to serve in the military as a conscientious objector who wished to be a medic and not carry a firearm. The substantial benefits that military members and their families receive comes at a substantial cost. It isn't really "free" and perhaps it won't work to try to do for other Americans what we do for the US military in terms of providing some baseline security: Health, housing, etc.
But there are a number of countries that seem to do a better job than the US overall. So maybe it isn't crazy to think that we could borrow ideas from our own military -- ideas that already work here in the US for some portion of Americans -- without having to figure out what parts of a foreign system would actually work on US soil.
There are no perfect systems. There are practical limits on all things and this is what drives a lot of cynicism in the world about high ideals.
High ideals are all too often not about everyone getting a better life. They are frequently a case of advocating for what works well for some people at the expense of some other people.
In other words, it is often a case of just shifting around who gets crapped on and who does the crapping.
Maybe that's true of me as well. Maybe what I want to foster won't actually improve life for "everyone."
Maybe millionaires and billionaires would be less rich and would resent that or something.
Or maybe not.
During the Cold War, Russia went from spending like 20 percent of GDP on its military to spending like 30 percent to try to out-compete the US militarily. It was KILLING them and didn't even succeed in outcompeting us.
We went from spending like 4 percent of GDP to 5 percent and handily outspent them because we had a stronger and healthier economy.
I think we currently are pushing too many people out into the streets and actively making people ill and so forth. I think we are actively bleeding the US of human capital and we could raise quality of life for a lot of people if it weren't our policy to actively shaft so many Americans and undermine their health, welfare and financial success.
I'm some lone woman blogging. This is not a revolution. My blogs barely get any traffic.
Me trying to express myself is absolutely not a reason anyone should be all up in arms. Worst case scenario: You folks laugh in my face and decide I'm an idiot and what I think would make things better simply won't fly.
I write to express myself. I won't be doing any organizing or some crap. I don't have the means to do that. I'm dirt poor and medically handicapped, so just chill the fuck out already.
If I say something that actually makes sense and works, cool. Then I've added some small crumb of value to the world and people can be that much less miserable.
I recently joked that the US military is like a communist country. That isn't some kind of political criticism. It's just to say that while so many Americans struggle with the high cost of housing and trying to afford medical care, military members and their dependents get a lot of those basics covered by the military in a way that moves a lot of issues out of their way.
As a military wife, I never had to wonder if I could afford to see a doctor or take my kids to see a doctor. I saw a doctor if I thought medical care was in order. Period.
I didn't have to budget and plan for retirement. If he made it to twenty years, he was going to have a retirement check and benefits.
Military members who are single can live in the barracks and eat in the mess hall. If they blow their entire paycheck on partying and buying an expensive stereo their first weekend, they have to eat at the mess hall until they get paid again and can't afford to go to McDonald's or Burger King but they aren't going to go hungry.
Married members get paid a housing allowance and cost of living adjusted for the local area. If they get on-base housing, I think they pay for phone service but no other utilities.
I don't feel I need to specifically look to Europe for ideas about how the US can do better by its people. I think you can look at what the US military does to find ideas for how to take better care of the American people.
Of course, honor and good character are a big part of military service. You get those benefits for serving your country and raising your right hand and swearing to die for the cause if necessary.
When I was a military wife, there was an incident where members of the military tried to get out of going to a war zone by claiming conscientious objector status. They had only joined for the college fund but supposedly had moral objections to actually going to war.
They were court martialed and thrown in the brig. No, you don't get to bleed the military for college benefits and then renege on your end of the deal when they ask you to go to war.
Of course, the movie Hacksaw Ridge comes to mind. It's based on a true story and Doss apparently went to court to defend his right to serve in the military as a conscientious objector who wished to be a medic and not carry a firearm. The substantial benefits that military members and their families receive comes at a substantial cost. It isn't really "free" and perhaps it won't work to try to do for other Americans what we do for the US military in terms of providing some baseline security: Health, housing, etc.
But there are a number of countries that seem to do a better job than the US overall. So maybe it isn't crazy to think that we could borrow ideas from our own military -- ideas that already work here in the US for some portion of Americans -- without having to figure out what parts of a foreign system would actually work on US soil.
There are no perfect systems. There are practical limits on all things and this is what drives a lot of cynicism in the world about high ideals.
High ideals are all too often not about everyone getting a better life. They are frequently a case of advocating for what works well for some people at the expense of some other people.
In other words, it is often a case of just shifting around who gets crapped on and who does the crapping.
Maybe that's true of me as well. Maybe what I want to foster won't actually improve life for "everyone."
Maybe millionaires and billionaires would be less rich and would resent that or something.
Or maybe not.
During the Cold War, Russia went from spending like 20 percent of GDP on its military to spending like 30 percent to try to out-compete the US militarily. It was KILLING them and didn't even succeed in outcompeting us.
We went from spending like 4 percent of GDP to 5 percent and handily outspent them because we had a stronger and healthier economy.
I think we currently are pushing too many people out into the streets and actively making people ill and so forth. I think we are actively bleeding the US of human capital and we could raise quality of life for a lot of people if it weren't our policy to actively shaft so many Americans and undermine their health, welfare and financial success.
I'm some lone woman blogging. This is not a revolution. My blogs barely get any traffic.
Me trying to express myself is absolutely not a reason anyone should be all up in arms. Worst case scenario: You folks laugh in my face and decide I'm an idiot and what I think would make things better simply won't fly.
I write to express myself. I won't be doing any organizing or some crap. I don't have the means to do that. I'm dirt poor and medically handicapped, so just chill the fuck out already.
If I say something that actually makes sense and works, cool. Then I've added some small crumb of value to the world and people can be that much less miserable.