People’s TV asked if I would talk with a fellow veteran who was a Democrat & Bernie Sanders supporter. I agreed. Her name is Charlotte Brock. We met at the “Women’s March” with her the day after the Inauguration. I’m going to post the video which is on the NowThis News Facebook page. If you go there you will see quite a few comments. Many of these comments are ugly, just as you would expect. Some are fair and neutral.
I will be sharing this here, on our sister website, and on our other Vets for Trump Facebook pages. Collectively we have around 400,000 followers. Please do NOT post anything ugly about Charlotte. It is fine to attack ideas or people who put themselves out there like myself but not people who simply want to live in peace. I’m not saying she can’t handle it. As a Marine, she probably can better than most but I just don’t approve of personal attacks. Apart from politics, we might be good friends. After all, she is a Marine veteran with 6 active and 2 reserve years of service. As we said in the military, you may not respect the person but respect the uniform. In this case, I say: You may not respect the ideas but respect the person. It might help to read this post on the subject of understanding each other first.
In retrospect, the first thing that struck me was Charlotte’s response to my suggestion that we all want pretty much the same things. I still believe that today. If you pay attention to the crazies on both sides our views about each other can become easily skewed. Think about things apart from the fog of political warfare.
- Most of us want a strong military so our enemies are deterred.
- Most of us think veterans should be cared for and that employees of the VA should be held to account for job performance.
- Most of us think veterans should not have to wait for months to see a doctor or travel many miles to get treatment.
- Most of us want peace rather than war. Peace agreements and troop withdraw are good things.
- Most of us want our allies who promised to pay into NATO to do what they promised.
- Most of us want a strong economy, middle class, upward mobility, low unemployment, lower taxes, fair trade, and a good GDP.
- Most of us want clean water and air.
- Most of us want to see a reduction in violence towards each other regardless of race, religion, etc.
- Most of us agree we should take care of Americans living in the streets before helping others. It’s not that we don’t want to help others, it is just a matter of priority.
That list could go on and on. The devil is always in the details about how we achieve these things and the priorities we place on them. Granted there are some things we do not fundamentally agree on. Abortion might top that list as an example. An argument for another post but one worth having.
Understand that there were hours of interviews that did not make the cut. It is hard to get the full conversation from a 17-minute segment. The other thing that stood out was Charlotte’s insistence that I was a racist or something along those lines. What did not make the cut was that she was willing to send me a book that would “educate me” on the subject. That is a story for another post. Suffice it to say that unless they change the definition of a racist you can’t convince me otherwise. PS we know Websters and others are changing the meanings of words. Sometimes for good reasons and at other times due to political pressure. George Orwell would be grinning.
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This is not a personal attack, just a statement of fact: If she supports a socialist, she is a disgrace to the Corps and an enemy of America.
Don’t even get me started on women in my branch, the Navy. Liberals have really caused harm to the military.
I guess I should have clarified and not used the word personal. If you saw the things said about me that are over the top, that is what I was driving at. For example, there are some who think my granddaughter should have been taken in by an institution rather than me. I’m guessing it was a black racist who could not stand a white loving grandfather taking care of his beloved granddaughter. There are idiots and then there are bigoted idiots. Your remark is OK and I bet she has heard it a million times. I understand. A Marine who is a Socialist is like a Jew who loves Hitler. It does not compute in our brains but there it is. However, it doesn’t move the discussion further. We have to ask people why they believe what they do. Otherwise it is simply a name calling or shouting match. Questions evoke responses.
Good luck on getting liberals to explain why they beleive what they beleive.
From the get-go, I noticed a red flag when she stated that she was moving in with her boyfriend and she had a son. What kind of message does that send to a child? That it’s ok to co-habitate and have sexual relations when not married? Sorry if I seem old fashioned but I was raised in a way that dictates that when a child is involved, the HIGHEST of morals must be presented in order to provide a better than average example for that child. I was a child of divorce. My mother had her girlfriends that she would hang out with now and then but she NEVER did anything that would compromise her morality in my eyes. All I ever saw from her was upstanding morality and integrity. I never realized how high of a caliber she was until I looked around and saw my friends’ mom’s bringing their boyfriends home to their houses while I was sleeping over at their children’s (my friends) house. Once I told my mom about this and from that point onward, I was NEVER allowed to stay overnight at that friend’s house again.
Our decisions affect more people than we realize and parents should know that. Kids are like sponges. They ‘absorb’ so much with their little eyes and ears, whether consciously or subconsciously. Their brains are going thru DRASTIC changes almost on a continual basis and they are incredibly impressionable. Something tells me that this Charlotte Brock person will never accept truth/rationality in a political sense because she seems to be conflicted personally. Individual conflict (being conflicted between what one WANTS and what one NEEDS) seems to be a tremendous ‘block’ to people being able to admit they were wrong. If someone has the moral courage to admit they were wrong about something like (for instance) a political leader, it would force them to look at their own lives and decisions. Essentially conducting a ‘moral inventory’. That is much too scary for most and it is only those that possess a certain degree of integrity that will be able to accomplish this. Just my ‘two cents’.
Hi Karl, I get what you are saying. However, I draw from my own life experience. That’s all any of us can draw from. In this particular area, questions work better than telling people the truth. Even if you cannot get them to answer there is a psychological factor to this. By asking a question it often forces the mind to think. The question must be sincere and posed in a non-threatening way. Most of us understand shouting matches or heated conversations do not win anyone to your side. Will you at least consider that approach?