Our Presidents as Seen by the Secret Service

[SoonToBe2LT]

Especially our Guard- full-timers. I conducted manpower studies for years and then Obama's budget cuts start hitting, armories all over the nation have to either shut down or drill with other units.

That's why Military/Secret service personnel (usually prior service or former LEOs) don't like democrats.

[Max Rockatansky]

Especially our Guard- full-timers. I conducted manpower studies for years and then Obama's budget cuts start hitting, armories all over the nation have to either shut down or drill with other units.

That's why Military/Secret service personnel (usually prior service or former LEOs) don't like democrats.

Welcome to the club!

Life is half luck. I was unlucky enough to miss Vietnam (my plan was to become a WOC helicopter pilot out of high school and be in Vietnam by age 20) but lucky enough to have been on active duty in the Marine Corps when President Reagan entered office and enacted "Peace through Strength". I was also still in service when President Clinton entered office with a post-Cold War, anti-military agenda then flip-flopped and started sending our troops into Bosnia and Haiti.

Pastor Charles Swindoll once wisely said "The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it".

I don't blame the Republicans, the Democrats or any particular $#@! who is in office for the way my career went, what happened to me, my friends or how things turned out for everyone. The forces at work here are way beyond the power of any single person or even group.

We can blame our failures on others, blame ourselves or simply choose to accept what happens and choose our attitude on how we respond to it. Your call.

[Peter1469]

Welcome to the club!

Life is half luck. I was unlucky enough to miss Vietnam (my plan was to become a WOC helicopter pilot out of high school and be in Vietnam by age 20) but lucky enough to have been on active duty in the Marine Corps when President Reagan entered office and enacted "Peace through Strength". I was also still in service when President Clinton entered office with a post-Cold War, anti-military agenda then flip-flopped and started sending our troops into Bosnia and Haiti.

Pastor Charles Swindoll once wisely said "The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it".

I don't blame the Republicans, the Democrats or any particular $#@! who is in office for the way my career went, what happened to me, my friends or how things turned out for everyone. The forces at work here are way beyond the power of any single person or even group.

We can blame our failures on others, blame ourselves or simply choose to accept what happens and choose our attitude on how we respond to it. Your call.

Correct, rational leaders are constrained by geopolitical realities. American has had a rather steady grand strategy for over 100 years. I mean very top level.

[SoonToBe2LT]

Welcome to the club!

Life is half luck. I was unlucky enough to miss Vietnam (my plan was to become a WOC helicopter pilot out of high school and be in Vietnam by age 20) but lucky enough to have been on active duty in the Marine Corps when President Reagan entered office and enacted "Peace through Strength". I was also still in service when President Clinton entered office with a post-Cold War, anti-military agenda then flip-flopped and started sending our troops into Bosnia and Haiti.

Pastor Charles Swindoll once wisely said "The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it".

I don't blame the Republicans, the Democrats or any particular $#@! who is in office for the way my career went, what happened to me, my friends or how things turned out for everyone. The forces at work here are way beyond the power of any single person or even group.

We can blame our failures on others, blame ourselves or simply choose to accept what happens and choose our attitude on how we respond to it. Your call.

True, but I can absolutely blame Democrats. They literally devised the plan to cut the budget and force soldiers out of the military, jobless. Although blaming doesn't do much good or change anything, so I merely stopped caring.

[Max Rockatansky]

True, but I can absolutely blame Democrats. They literally devised the plan to cut the budget and force soldiers out of the military, jobless. Although blaming doesn't do much good or change anything, so I merely stopped caring.

Democrats have always been like Mothers; they would rather sell all the furniture to feed the kids meat today than see the wisdom of renting out that furniture and feeding the kids mac'n'cheese for the foreseeable future.

Democrats have always been of the mindset that if we only laid down our guns, everyone else would do the same. Saner people realize that's insane, albeit very loving. OTOH, we don't need to have a houseful of guns and no food either. A compromise must be found which balances a strong, capable military for security of US citizens at home and abroad, with a sound, sustainable economy. Running up debt and building a welfare state, be it personal or corporate, is not sound.

[SoonToBe2LT]

Democrats have always been like Mothers; they would rather sell all the furniture to feed the kids meat today than see the wisdom of renting out that furniture and feeding the kids mac'n'cheese for the foreseeable future.

Democrats have always been of the mindset that if we only laid down our guns, everyone else would do the same. Saner people realize that's insane, albeit very loving. OTOH, we don't need to have a houseful of guns and no food either. A compromise must be found which balances a strong, capable military for security of US citizens at home and abroad, with a sound, sustainable economy. Running up debt and building a welfare state, be it personal or corporate, is not sound.

True. That's why I always found it odd that Democrats hated Bush so much. He used our money like a liberal and was the opposite of conservative fiscally.

But he did strengthen our military which I was proud of. He didn't gut it like a fish like our current President, who never wore a uniform.

[Max Rockatansky]

True. That's why I always found it odd that Democrats hated Bush so much. He used our money like a liberal and was the opposite of conservative fiscally.

But he did strengthen our military which I was proud of. He didn't get it like a fish like our current President, who never wore a uniform.

The Republican Party has moved away from being the party of fiscal sanity and national defense to become the party of religious ideology. Because of that, they are more like Democrats who worship socialist ideology, than conservatives of my day.

Just so we're clear, I'm a conservative in the mold of Barry Goldwater, not those who call themselves conservatives but are really ideological zealots.

[SoonToBe2LT]

The Republican Party has moved away from being the party of fiscal sanity and national defense to become the party of religious ideology. Because of that, they are more like Democrats who worship socialist ideology, than conservatives of my day.

Just so we're clear, I'm a conservative in the mold of Barry Goldwater, not those who call themselves conservatives but are really ideological zealots.

Really? I feel it's the opposite. More and more non-religious conservatives are coming out. The right used to be way more religious than it is. That's why people like Rick Santorum never stand a chance now-a-days

[Max Rockatansky]

Really? I feel it's the opposite. More and more non-religious conservatives are coming out. The right used to be way more religious than it is. That's why people like Rick Santorum never stand a chance now-a-days

The main issues the Republicans trot out all have a religious bias to them. I was a Republican ever since I could vote but became an Independent a few years ago due to the shift from Goldwater conservatism to religious ideology.

"There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.' "
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) speech to Congress, Sept. 16, 1981

[SoonToBe2LT]

The main issues the Republicans trot out all have a religious bias to them. I was a Republican ever since I could vote but became an Independent a few years ago due to the shift from Goldwater conservatism to religious ideology.

"There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.' "
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) speech to Congress, Sept. 16, 1981

Check the date on that quote, and then re-read my previous statement.