Blind Thanksgiving

I had a great Thanksgiving, thanks for asking! We had my brother-in-law and his family come and stay with us for a couple of days. A couple of their kids are older, so at anyone time we have 6 adults in the house, and then 7 rugrats running around. It made for an interesting weekend.

I really like that side of my extended family. They're real, they're logical, and they've seen enough crap that they don't just take stuff for granted. They don't necessarily agree with me on politics and religion, so I didn't bring it up, but I would have expected a decent discussion had I done so.

The actual Thanksgiving meal was pretty good. I took the approach of not eating too much, and not only did I leave feeling comfortable and satisfied, I also managed to lose a pound or two over the course of the weekend.

Something at the meal did bug me though, so if I may vent for a second...

Another member of the extended fam came over to our table (there were a lot of tables) to chat. He brought up the shambles that the economy was in, rightfully blaming the government, but then proceeded to start getting upset with Mr Obama's plans as president. Apparently Mr. Obama has spoken about pulling our troops out of foreign deployments, and redeploying them within the United States. This family member is just one of a number of people who I have heard complaining about this, including Glenn Beck. Generally the argument is about paying for these deployments.

I don't claim to know all the facts, and if you know more about this than I do, please correct me. But let me just share how I am seeing this situation.

First, we have troops deployed in countries which we have no business deploying troops in. Seriously, how long has Germany been free from the Nazi's and how long has the Cold War been over?

Next, we have troops deployed in Iraq. They should never have been deployed in the first place, and I would argue that there is a better way to honor our military men and women than sending them over to risk their lives in the desert. I admire their courage to fulfill their missions, despite the fact that I disagree with the mission. The argument has been that even though we shouldn't have gone in, we need to fix the mess we made. Iraq has asked us to leave - I think it's time.

Next I live near Hill Air-force base in Utah. There is a huge amount of fear that this base may end up being closed in the future, and if so, the huge negative impact it will have on the Utah economy, particularly in the area I live.

Finally, the US economy is in the crapper.

So lets put those things all together. We have troops overseas in places they don't need to be. They are stationed at bases which are likely a huge source of income for the local economies around where they are. We're funding those bases and thereby funding the local economies of these foreign nations. Can you see the problem?

If we bring those troops back to the US, and deploy them at a national level, wouldn't that only help the economy?

I think there are a lot of valid reasons why people could be concerned about the Obama presidency. Many of those concerns are just fears of the unknown. But from where I sit, whining about the man wanting to bring troops home and spend the military budget inside the US economy, really isn't something worth complaining about. I would think anyone with half a brain would want to support something like that.

Of course I could be wrong, and I welcome your opposing view points.