Supporting Our Troops

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in our country today about what it means to support our troops. My brother Dennis and I were discussing this recently, in one of our usually heated debates, since Dennis tends to lean toward the Republicans, the right, Lord Voldemort and other areas of evil, while I remain just left of center, where all intelligent, articulate, caring human beings are. But enough about me.

Dennis' argument was that Hillary Clinton (our next President of the United States) made a statement that she will always support the troops, but then voted against the funding of the troops in Iraq. I don't know when she allegedly made this statement, but her vote came in May 2007, when both she and Obama voted against funding for the troops that did not contain a timeline to remove the troops from Iraq.

"I fully support our troops" but the measure "fails to compel the president to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq," said Clinton.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3210851

She further supported her position when Mitt Romney claimed that "Their votes render them undependable in the eyes of men and women of the United States military and the American people."

"I don't see that at all," Clinton responded. "the American people have been living now with this war for five years. I want to de-authorize it."

Added Barack Obama (our next Vice President of the United States), "The country is united in our support for our troops, but we also owe them a plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/25/vote.effect/index.html

Apparently, Right Wing tools (like my dear baby brother) don't understand that supporting the troops does not mean opening the purse every time they need money, so let me explain it the way Jesus would; with a parable.

Once upon a time there was a family with a mother, a father and a son. As the son grew up he became aligned with some less-than-reputable people, and as time went on he became a drug addict and drunk. Any time he got his hands on any money, he spent it on drugs and alcohol, and his parents were despondent over what to do with him.

Now, they loved their son, and they supported him, but they realized that giving him money was a very bad idea without him first giving them some kind of assurance that he would not be spending that money on drugs and alcohol. He refused to give them this assurance, so they refused to give him any money. They continued to feed him, clothe him and give him a home, but not to give him any money.

Did these parents stop supporting their son? Of course not. They simply realized that what was best for him was not unlimited funds that would be used for drugs and alcohol, but give him what he needs until such time as he is able to handle money without spending it on things that will kill him.

Hillary and Barack did the same thing. They both support the troops, but they refused to fund them if there isn't any end in sight. The war was a mistake and at this point you won't find many people who are willing to argue that point. Since we haven't been able to invent a time machine yet, we're stuck with the war, so the best course of action is to end it as soon as possible. This is support of our troops. Bring them home where they belong, and that is what Clinton and Obama both tried to do by withholding their votes on the bill.

Hillary does support our troops, but she is intelligent enough to understand that support does not mean a blank check.