Betrayed

I’m from the government and I’m here to help. Trust me.

If you are dependent upon the promise of government help and support…

• Be afraid
• Don’t hold your breath
• Have a Plan-B

This applies whether you are a domestic group or a foreign entity.

Let’s start with domestic groups who put their faith in the government support and promises:

• Native Americans. Broken treaties and forced migrations epitomized by the Trail of Tears. Relegated to reservations in the past and environmental injustices in modern times
• African Americans promised freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War but Reconstruction was a travesty of justice that ushered in the era of Jim Crowe segregation, KKK atrocities and lynching’s.
• War on Poverty established multitude of well intentioned programs but also ushered in an era of big government, bureaucracy, and social stigma.
• War on Crime and War on Drugs was well intentioned but disproportionate incarceration’s of inner city residents and uneven application of justice caused more harm than good.
• Dreamers who were brought to the USA as children and have in most cases become outstanding members of society attending school and starting careers. How are they being rewarded? Threat of deportation to countries and cultures that are entirely foreign to them.
• College students needing financial aid. They encumber school loan debt so they can graduate only to become debtors for many years.
• Retires who have contributed all their working years to social security and when they finally retire they are taxed on their social security earnings.
• Working poor who struggle to rise out of poverty and wean away from benefits such as food stamps and public assistance only to be penalized for moving up into a higher income category and risk loosing a financial safety net in a precarious work environment.
• Residents of hurricane ravaged New Orleans (hurricane Katrina) and Puerto Rico (hurricane Maria)
• Victims of 911 rescue workers who had to fight for continuation of medical benefits for 911 related illnesses
• Veterans in VA Hospitals who are kept on long waiting lists for physical and mental health treatment.
• Persons who received health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare) and are threatened with becoming uninsured again with the threat of ACA coverage with no plan in place for replacing their insurance.
• Persons unable to receive Covid-19 testing, first responders, essential front line worker (grocery clerks, retail clerks, truckers, delivery persons, etc.) and health care workers who are not supplied with Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), ventilators and adequate health insurance coverage.

In foreign affairs and with regard to international relations, the following groups have been betrayed by the promise of USA support:

• Mong tribes in the mountains of South Vietnam who supported us in fighting the Viet Cong but were obliterated by the Viet Cong and communist regime of Vietnam when the USA abandoned Vietnam
• Afghans who supported the overthrow of the Russian incursion into Afghanistan and were subsequently tortured by the Taliban when the USA exited.
• Kurds fighting Sadam Hussein in the hopes of USA support of a Kurdish nation that never materialized.
• Syrian rebels that supported a overthrow of dictator Bashar and subsequently fell victim to both Bashar (Syrian govenment) and ISIS. They were tragically double screwed the lack of USA promised support.
• Libyans who supported the overthrow of Kadafi but without follow up by the USA they devolved into chaos and mayhem
• Iraqis who were invaded by the USA and their society was irreparably broken with little hope for restoration of order with the USA having little appetite to remain long term to fix what they broke (and not knowing how to patch up the broken pieces).
• Yemen. USA backs Saudi Arabia which backs the Yemen government in it’s fight with Houthi rebels (who have Iranian backing). Again, USA gets immersed in a quagmire with no clear direction and plenty of opportunity for fiascos.
• Long term USA allies are no longer sure of USA support/commitment since the NATO treaty/alliance has been recently questioned and there has even been discussion of removing troops from South Korea. If I was a Ukrainian or the member of the small Baltic nations, I would be very concerned about USA inaction as the Russian bear casts its imperialistic glace toward those regions.

So if someone says “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”, ….be afraid, be very afraid and make sure you have a “Plan B”.

Don’t get the wrong impression by this post. I’m as patriotic as the next guy. However, to maintain a democracy we need to be able to question, analyze and THINK. Mark Twain said it best when he said “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it”.