Heart Broken Politically Homeless Veterans
Real people, real letters, real problems, no solutions.
Politics these days have become so divided and divisive that it’s become the norm to view the other side of the aisle as “the enemy”. People are being told to “pick a side” and that there’s no room for middle ground. We here at Phetasy believe that there are a lot more people in the middle than politicians and the media would have us believe.
We’re collecting stories from the ever growing number of people who are finding themselves Politically Homeless and posting them here on Substack. If you have moved from conservative to liberal, or liberal to conservative, if you feel you’ve stayed in the same place and your party has swerved drastically away from you, if you had a moment that awakened you to the insanity and hypocrisy on both sides, if you keep your mouth shut anytime a political topic comes up because you’re afraid your opinion will cause you to lose friends or your job, you’re not as alone as you might think.
Our goal is to shine a light on people’s earnest, individual experiences and show them they’re not alone.
Some letters have been edited for clarity and brevity. If you’re politically homeless and would like to share your story, please email us at iampoliticallyhomeless@gmail.com. All submissions will remain anonymous.
Letter 19:
Dear Bridget,
We are a group of veterans who have been completely and utterly gutted by our political environment. Our brothers and those before us died for our people, freedom, and liberty. We stood ready at 18 years old, prepared to place our lives upon the altar of freedom for our country, its people and liberty. Only to return home and see both sides calling the other Nazis, racists, bigots and worse, over a difference of opinion. We wonder if those boys at Normandy Beach would have gotten off those boats if they knew what America would become. Our love for America runs deeper than any love for a significant other. It is comparable to the love you have for your new child, in that it is an all-consuming, ready to die for type of love. I am teary-eyed as I write this; as the pain of a divided country is too much to bear sometimes; knowing our brothers died at 18 for an ungrateful nation. If the nation was truly grateful, its people would not act like this.
Below you will find our letter to the American people that was first published on our Substack UnCommon Sense Letters. As veterans we have laid down our rifles to pick up the pen in a desperate attempt to unite the country. We are on team America and do not believe in rooting for a political party like it is a football game. We do not believe that every word we write will be agreed upon; however, we hope that people will be able to see that we believe that all Americans deserve to benefit from mankind’s unalienable rights: Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, regardless of race, religion, gender, or creed. We hope you enjoy A Veteran’s Letter To America and Her People.
Dear United States of America,
Over the last decade, I have watched our country’s citizens disrespect our veterans through its political divisiveness and its disdain for its fellow citizens. It is this reason that I no longer want to be considered an Army Veteran and forgo the honor associated with it, until our nation moves away from its destructive path. It is with just cause that I outline the reasons that compel the separation of my association.
For those who served, our reasons are as great and diverse as this land but rooted in a common belief that this country’s ideals and its people are worth death. As an adopted immigrant child - whose ancestors fought in every war going back to our revolution and through the writings of our founders - my heart knew the importance of sacrificing for our people and protecting mankind’s unalienable rights. Without hesitation, I was prepared to place my life upon the altar of freedom for you, believing that America and her people were the light in a dark world. However, the persistent deplorable acts of her people to plainly show that its people have taken for granted the liberties that define a free people and thereby insulting the soldiers who sacrificed for it.
For too long, I have watched the bi-partisan plague that has infected our government rip through the general population like a deadly virus killing our moral fiber. This virus has been created by tyrannical politicians and spread by their many media aids, who are more concerned with lining their pockets than the success of a free people. They have equally spread the ideas that a difference of opinion means your perceived “enemy” has malicious intent creating an intolerant country ran by fear and hate. While they are to blame for the spread of the virus, you are to blame for failing to kill the virus and allowing it to infect the heart of our country. To justify my accusations, I submit my candid observations. As a society, YOU HAVE:
I. Failed to believe in the inherent greatness of your fellow Americans and treated them in a reprehensible manner.
II. Failed to seek common ground with your political “foes” and simultaneously attacked moderate voices accusing them of aligning with your perceived “enemies.”
III. Traded tolerance for intolerance based on the narrow-minded idea that political foes have malicious intent seeking to destroy your Liberty.
IV. Taken the terrible actions of a few and made exaggerated generalizations to discredit all people in a different party.
V. Failed to keep yourself informed on facts and chosen a lazy method of knowledge by relying on people to reiterate your emotional beliefs. You have been carried away by the emotions of the day whilst you seek so called “facts” to justify these emotions.
VI. Believed Mr. Hannity and Ms. Maddow in their: perpetual lies, fact spinning, vilifications and fear mongering. Their comparisons of Obama and Trump to Hitler can only be viewed as disgusting ignorant propaganda as any comparison to a man who is responsible for the death of 50M + people mark the act of a tyrant and shows the level of ignorance for which they speak.
VII. Desperately sought to justify your candidates’ poor actions by focusing on their opponents’ faults, even though your candidate is unfit to lead a free people. To ignore your politicians’ flaws by comparing them to their opponent is the logic used by children and denounced by parents.
VIII. Failed to hold politicians accountable, allowing them to ignore, expand and benefit from a corrupt political contribution system. Making them beholden to their donors at the cost of the Liberty and the People’s Voice.
IX. Allowed politicians to not lead by example, establishing laws that they exempt themselves from; become wealthy through self-raises despite their constant incompetence and inaction.
X. Allowed politicians to perpetuate a two-party system than cannot possibly account for the full range of ideas held by mankind.
You are all responsible for our current state of affairs, either through your deliberate or passive actions; by attacking your fellow Americans from a different party or by standing by and watching as others do so. With every one of these actions, you have destroyed the belief that America is worth a great patriots’ life; for those who died... They DID NOT DIE FOR THIS. Your incessant disgraceful actions demonstrate that you are not worth their sacrifice. To add insult to injury you have allowed the Veterans’ Administration to accost, steal, harm, and disgrace our veterans; ignoring the promise of a people to care for them.
If you truly value those who have sacrificed, then it is time to stand-up for Liberty. With all my heart please:
Stop viewing every person with a different opinion as the enemy. Take time to fully understand their opinions and actively seek common ground.
Stop generalizing based on how someone voted in the last election and realize that almost all Americans want everyone to benefit from our unalienable rights.
Shun and put on notice the tyrannical politicians and their aids. Stop settling for the lesser of two evils. Stop supporting news outlets who are pumping agendas instead of reporting news.
Refuse to stand by while others treat each other with such discontent. Do not let people disgrace your fellow Americans over a difference of opinion.
With every teardrop that has struck my paper, please heed my words. Please reinstate the meaning of why I served and allow me to proudly say “I am an American Veteran, a defender of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” I will always be a patriot for the true meaning of our nation, but we are a great distance away from that. Please bring us back.
“I have never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” – Thomas Jefferson.
Sincerely,
Alexander Jefferson
P.S. UnCommon Sense will be a series of letters to the American public that seeks to unite us. We have been trying to publish this letter for over 3 years, but the media has no interest in moderate views.
Some letters have been edited for clarity and brevity. If you'd like to share your story, email us at iampoliticallyhomeless@gmail.com. All submissions will remain anonymous.
I think this is my fav so far.
Oh, give me a break! Let me start by saying that I am a combat veteran. For the record, I hold something like fifteen medals awarded for combat. I've been there and know what I'm talking about. First, not a single American has "fought for freedom" since the Civil War, at least, when Southerners fought to be free of Northern aggression. America's wars since then have been national policy, not the defense of the nation. Those troops who went ashore at Normandy - I doubt that any of them were younger than twenty unless they had lied about their age - were going to liberate France, not the United States, which hasn't seen an attack from a foreign enemy since the War of 1812 when the British, now our best buddies, invaded and captured Washington and were about to capture New Orleans until Andy Jackson's Tennessee sharpshooters began mowing them down at Chalmette Plantation. (Yes, Japan attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor but Hawaii was a territory and not part of the United States at the time. The 9/11 attacks weren't by any foreign enemy, they were by Muslims protesting US imperialism in Muslim countries, at least that's who they saw it.)
Yes, the country is divided - it's ALWAYS been divided! It was divided during the Revolutionary War when about 40% of the population remained loyal to the King while another 40% revolved and the other 20% simply did not care. Yes, we have political agitators but that's nothing new. Ever hear of H.L. Mencken, Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson, Walter Cronkite, Charles Lindbergh, Edward R, Murrow, Father Coughlin? They were all political agitator/journalists. They just didn't have cable TV - they used radio and newspapers. The country was hardly "united" during World War II when there were strikes and about half the country hated FDR. Yes, our fathers (your grandfathers) fought but only under duress since everyone was subject to the Selective Service Commission, which even controlled volunteer enlistments. ALL enlistments today are volunteer and have been since the 1970s and the end of the Vietnam draft. Peddle your baloney but bear in mind that nothing has changed, it's just that the Left has come out of the closet and declared their hatred for anyone who doesn't follow their line.