I just returned from Washington D.C. I served on an Honor Flight packed with veterans, including my Dad, a soldier in Vietnam.
Our capital is filled with memorials to remind America of her values. At the Marine Memorial, an inscription says, “Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue.” I read names of past wars and how long we fought them. Iraq and Afghanistan did not yet have end dates inscribed. These twenty-year-wars were longer than any previous wars, and cost trillions, countless injuries, and lives.
The Honor Flight celebrated courage, service, and sacrifice. We didn’t talk about politics. It was a trip of a lifetime that demanded reflection on the past, and for me, the present.
Staring at the White House and POW flags, I remembered when Trump said Sen. John McCain wasn’t a hero because he was captured in Vietnam. America shrugged. Nobody else could say such stupid things and remain in politics.
Trump also said Obama was a secret Muslim born in Kenya. The Birther Lie. I remembered when McCain took a microphone away from a supporter echoing Trump’s lies. I recalled when Obama sent SEAL Team 6 on the mission that killed bin Laden. Or when McCain saved Obamacare, which eliminated pre-existing medical conditions and allows adults to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26. McCain implored us to not torture people.
I recalled when President Biden lost his son Beau, an Iraq veteran, to brain cancer. The same cancer that killed McCain. I was frustrated when our U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach voted against the PACT Act, which provides health care to vets exposed to toxic burn pits. She voted ‘no’ because of US debt. Will she vote against tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, too?
Fischbach also voted to overturn the election results of several states and embraced Trump’s election lie. A loyalty test.
President Trump is a convicted fraud, felon, and sexual assaulter. America deserves more than reality TV and retribution. Our present situation is a choice. We can choose better leaders if we have courage, empathy, and love reality more than fantasy. Trump’s behavior was destructive a decade ago. It still is.
Troy Goodnough
Morris
