"TODAY'S AMERICA"
An essay by Coalition Chief of Staff, David Kaufman,
and an addendum by Dr. Teddy Bitner, Col. USA RET.


HISTORY is an incredible thing-it tells us what is going to happen based upon the things that actually happened before. There are very few things that happen today that didn't already take place in the past. Smart people study the past so not to repeat previous blunders. Dumb people ignore the past; make the same mistakes and always fail. As an example, Hitler's invasion of Russia was doomed to fail for the very same reasons Napoleons' invasion of Russia failed. Hitler ignored the fact that the Russian army simply fell back as Napoleon's troops surged deeper and deeper into the Russian wilderness and was ultimately overwhelmed by the harshness of the Russian winter. Hitler ignored the fact that Napoleon's army, unable to feed itself because of the severity of the winter, relied entirely upon supply lines cut and destroyed by attacking Russian soldiers to the extent that his army literally began to starve and freeze to death. One hundred and forty years later, Hitler's army froze and starved to death as its supply lines were attacked, cut and destroyed by attacking Russian troops. Napoleon was dumb. Hitler was dumber.

In 1954, the French and the Vietnamese were locked in combat. The Communist Vietnamese military commander, General Nguyen Giap had a simple military strategy-kill as many French soldiers as possible and the French people would demand an end to the fighting. At a place called Dien Bien Phu he did exactly that, All 13,000 French troops were killed, wounded or captured and the French threw up their hands and withdrew. Fourteen years later, the very same communist Vietnamese general attempted to do the same thing with American forces in Vietnam in places like Khe Shan and the nationwide Tet Offensive of 1968. Unlike American military leaders who simply refused to learn the lessons of the French, Giap went on killing as many Americans as possible, knowing full well that at a certain point, the American Congress
would just throw up its hands, give up and walk away. And that's exactly what happened. General Giap knew he couldn't defeat the might of the US military, but having learned his lesson with the French, was convinced that taking the same approach would also beat the US Congress. And he was correct.

Today, we find ourselves in troubled times with an economy heading south, stock markets in the tank, unemployment rising, credit lines shrinking or disappearing, and congressional leaders not really knowing what to do. As a nation, we have been there before and recovered. But incredibly, it appears that our current leaders have chosen to ignore the history of the past and are about to make matters worse by repeating the same mistakes that plunged our nation into deep recession following the 1929 market crash.

Yes, we are in deep trouble, but how we got here isn't as important as how we get out of it. When lost in the woods, hungry and cold, it matters little that wrong turns along past paths were taken. The only thing that really matters now is how to get out of here. I listened to the President's speech before the Congress. It was a good speech, well written and beautifully delivered. But I don't want to hear the president tell the American people he "inherited" an economic crisis. I want to hear the president tell us how we are going to get out of the crisis. More money for education may be a wonderful goal but it's not going to increase economic productivity and result in businesses hiring unemployed workers. Improvements in our health system is laudable, but should best be left for a time when we have brought our economy back to the point where immediate concerns of food and shelter
have been fulfilled.

History teaches us that Marie Antoinette lost her head when she
misunderstood the basic need of the French people to have bread.
Metaphorically speaking, her suggesting that they eat cake when even black bread wasn't available was not a good idea. The President's idea of diverting huge sums of monies for education improvements and medical care overhaul is somewhat analogues when one considers food, employment and shelter are significantly more important. A family whose bread winner has just been laid off isn't really concentrating on junior's future college plans. I suspect that family is just a bit more concerned with food on the table, and perhaps, electricity.

For reasons I haven't fully understood, I have a fear that our nation is
about to experience class warfare, where those who "don't have" are being encouraged to take from those "who do have." And this would be absolutely disastrous. If I heard the President correctly, 95% of the country would receive a tax cut while the remaining 5 % would obviously have their taxes increased. I wonder if any among the 95% of the lucky ones ever considered that it's the "other 5%" who invests in the businesses, shops, plants and factories that create most of the jobs. In troubled economic times, government leaders should create policies that encourage business growth and expansion which causes increased productivity that leads directly to economic recovery and the hiring of additional employees. Any business who is confronted with an increased tax liability MUST lay off workers in order to meet that burden. Increased taxation during troubled economic times simply results in more layoffs, higher unemployment and a deeper recession leading to depression. In other words, our new President and Congress are
about to repeat the same mistakes of the 1930's.

The other fear is that class warfare will cause some people to resist full
and fair government attention to those who absolutely deserve this
attention---veterans who have sacrificed so much for the nation and are
dependent upon the government's care for some or all of their support.
Blinded veterans, paralyzed veterans, amputees, those suffering from the
physical and mental effects of combat, all are at risk of deep budget cuts
in the name of helping others.

When the President suggests that all Americans must share in sacrifices to pull the nation out of the current economic crisis, he is, perhaps
unwittingly, creating a situation where those who do not contribute to the
economic well being of the nation demand more and more benefits for
themselves at the expense of the group which has contributed the most for the nation---our veterans. And while bailing out banks, motor companies and defaulting home-owners may be good, we must not allow that to be done at the expense of those veterans who deserve government programs even more. I fear that this President and this Congress may find it politically expedient to sacrifice those who have done so much to keep our nation free and strong in order to garner favor with those who have contributed the least. And this is
something we must not allow to happen.

David Kaufman

Chief of Staff

National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition

March, 2009

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