Trading Military Lives for Votes

It’s just more of the same. The Democrats are pushing a bill which will increase the college benefits of GIs. At face value, few would argue with the merits of the proposal sponsored by Senator Jim Webb (D), Virginia.

But never confuse merit with intention.

As with many appropriations shoved down the throat of the Pentagon by lawmakers, this is another political boondoggle. It’s a shortsighted effort to curry favor with voters by mending the national security reputation of the Democratic Party prior to the November presidential election.

When Senator Obama, their presidential nominee, is combined with their two year effort to cripple national security, the Democrats need a quick fix to establish a semblance of pro-military credentials.

What better way than to offer legislation which increases military benefits? It gives them a peg to hang their hat on.

Hope springs eternal. Maybe the voters will forget the Democrats buried the Patriot Act, the nation’s first line of defense against terrorism, in parliamentary gamesmanship. Maybe the voters will forget the Democrats demanded captured terrorists be given the same legal rights as American citizens.

The Democrats see the problem. After more than thirty unsuccessful attempts to end the Iraq War and cripple national defense, they have taken a new tack. They figure the country can’t fight a war without soldiers.

Senator Webb’s legislation will gut re-enlistments by providing free college tuition and housing benefits/supplements to military personnel after three years of service. The Pentagon is screaming that the duration of active duty should be lengthened to secure the benefits, to insure military readiness.

The Democrats counter that the bill will encourage enlistments. Maybe they are right. But they forget to mention the cost of maintaining this turnstile program. Everyone in business knows the frontend cost of training new personnel and turning them into productive workers outpaces the cost of retaining seasoned veterans.

In combat there is more at stake than can be measured by a profit and loss statement. Rookie mistakes cost lives. So the bottom line of this proposed legislation is the willingness of the Democrats to trade the lives of more GIs for political gain.

The Democrats can’t put enough lipstick on this pig to cover their treachery.

Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid are bottom feeders. They won the congressional majority in 2006 by promising to end the Iraq War, to reduce energy costs, to eliminate earmarks and by guaranteeing Americans that they wouldn’t introduce new entitlements without funding them.

Compared to their willingness to sacrifice military lives for political expediency, the cost of Webb’s proposal is hardly noteworthy. Suffice it to say that if they banned earmarks as promised, taxes would not have to be increased $54 billion to fund the education of GIs over the next five years.

It’s doubtful they care.