Splicetoday

Politics & Media
Jun 19, 2008, 12:56PM

No Time To Play Politics

Supporting our troops by funding a meaningful education should be a no-brainer for every American politician. So this Republican is especially disappointed that his party leaders are manufacturing excuses in order to avoid voting for a Demcorat-sponsored measure that would bring the G.I. Bill into the 21st century.

What a nice world it would be if fastening a flag to your lapel/car/lawn/ (insert preferred patriot-platform here) was demonstration enough of your support for the armed forces. It would make symbolic gestures of unity a lot more convenient with the added feature of saving some of our more self-interested politicians a few headaches. Instead of the hackneyed and, dare I say, almost-trivial presentations of gratitude offered every day to veterans, at little to no expense to ourselves, why don't we sacrifice that little something extra and offer one of the most powerful gifts of all: an education.

It's not a new issue, which makes opposition to bills like Rep. Webb's Veteran's Education Bill absurd. Quizzically, our own John McCain and George Bush have taken the flimsy stance that this bill will give a lot of soldiers the chance to flee from the unfavorable role of defending the country that they, paradoxically, signed up to defend in the first place. Quite the mixed message when it comes to respecting the U.S. solider.

This reeks of miscalculated politics, if not outright insincerity. For starters, it doesn't help McCain's stance as the champion of the armed forces. What possessed McCain to take such a self-destructive stance is beyond me. Additionally, transforming this relatively non-partisan bill into a political battleground does very few people any good and makes me personally disappointed in a so-far favorable McCain campaign.

Political leanings aside, this should be a non-issue, a no-brainer. As students of A&M, we should be especially in favor of this avenue of appreciation. Luckily, there's little doubt that this bill will be enacted, even with a presidential veto, but that does little to quell my doubts as to the mental stability and sincerity of not only our current leadership but also a potential one for the imminent future.

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