Retired, Patriotic WWII Vet writes a letter to Obama

[Uncle FEFL]

For those of us who are interested in what a retired military has to say:

"BMC Harold Estes is real. In 2005 he was the president of the Honolulu Council of the Navy League of the United States.
This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii
for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes
all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body,
he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now.
He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the
president.

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year.
People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain
wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly
before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate.
Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor
allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.
One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one,
is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.
So here goes.
I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do
but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.
I can't figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the
world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
" We're no longer a Christian nation"
" America is arrogant" - (Your wife even
announced to the world," America is mean-
spirited. " Please tell her to try preaching
that nonsense to 23 generations of our
war dead buried all over the globe who
died for no other reason than to free a
whole lot of strangers from tyranny and
hopelessness.)

I'd say shame on the both of you but I don't think you like America nor
do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do for the obvious gifts
this country has given you To be without shame or gratefulness is a
dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said," America hasn't lived up to her ideals."
Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that
11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British?
Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man that
500,000 men died for in the Civil War ? I hope you didn't mean the ideal
470,000 fathers, brothers,husbands,and a lot of fellas I knew personally
died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation
push us around because we stand for freedom.

I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than
discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood
when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.
Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I
can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue
..You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of
murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to
jump to conclusions and conde mn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his
fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do
what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college
professor in Massachusetts who was putting up a fight ? You don't mind
offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend
Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are,terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had
to defend your country with your life but you're the Commander-in-Chief
now,son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for
40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're
not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is
not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest
challenge ever presented to any president.
You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our
bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul
of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don't
want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes"

When a 95 year old hero of the "the Greatest Generation"
stands up and speaks out like this, I think we owe it
to him to send his words to as many Americans as
we can. Please pass it on.


I got this from Serenes Forest. He didn't link to any article.

Discuss. This is pretty powerful, IMO. In most cases, I think he's right.

 

[silent sniper]

tbh, i think this guys a douche.

 

[outgum]

i agree, The letter writer is a douche
Just cause things arnt how HE wants them, doesnt mean he can full scale attack.
and in my opinion he needs to show alittle more respect, i doubt he could run a country >_>

 

[DarkSpace]

Interesting, yet he has a good point. Caling this 95 year old a douche doesn't change the fact that he's has some valid points.

 

[dragon574444]

I feel the opposite of what you guys are. It might be because neither of you are American...but this letter has a lot of power, and every point stated is true. America is going in the wrong direction, this man sees that and wrote to the man responsible. I don't see any douche-ness in it at all. Really, I don't see how anyone could take this offensively...

 

[Domination]

A patriot doesn't make someone a possible candidate to run a country.

While I am not American, so I cannot accept his "American Spirtit/Dream". Fuck that, the U.S. economy is more important, it is not just the U.S. You are just being a American supremist, because an U.S. economy rebound is good for the WHOLE world.

"You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves" What? At least HE is not treating you all like slaves. And what he is doing is something Americans full of hot air like him don't know, courtesy. Thats why America is arrogant. The past century, Americans like him have been living in good life, no matter how hard he says his life in WWII is. You don't even know courtesy.

Most probably a republican.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

There's no such thing as patriotism. Republicans think they're patriots. Democrats think they're patriots. The crazies who assemble arsenals for revolution think they're patriotic. I don't care about patriotism. It's a pointless flaw that makes people not think about themselves. And in life, you come first, other things second. You can't help other people if you can't help yourself.

 

[dragon574444]

I kinda fail to see what's wrong with being a republican...It's better than being a communist socialist promoting government control like Obama

 

[Uncle FEFL]

Obama is no where NEAR being a socialist, dude. Jjust as sure as my dick is 2,000 inches long is that man a socialist.


This guy is obviously a nationalist, so he feels some sort of pride to his country. No one can call him "wrong" for that.

Additionally, this guy is not a douche (kinda blinded by patriotism), and some of his points are actually valid (IMO).

 

[dragon574444]

I'm afraid it's called socialized health care for a reason. How about his plan to "spread the wealth around?" We the people (see; congress, "we the people" don't get to vote on any of this) are giving the government our money and letting them redistribute it at will. Welfare, medicare, Social Security, all of the government agencies, like the EPA and FDA. 60% of our income goes to the government. I wonder how much they'll need to put Obama's socialized medicine bill in...

 

[Ace Gunman]

No offense intended, but I don't believe being a veteran makes one a political expert. He's seen and done amazing and terrifying things, but that doesn't make his viewpoint any more valid than the next. Not to say it's not valid, it's just no more valid than the opinions of anyone else just because he happened to kill for his country. The ability to do so does not necessarily make one fit to lead.

On top of that, I don't think a 95 year old man, no matter how alert he may be, is fit to dictate modern politics. He came from a time were segregation, anti-Semitic, sexist, and homophobic behavior, blacklisting, rampant sexism, wife and child abuse, tobacco for everyone and drunk driving were considered the standard. The version of America he fought for would go on, post-WWII to continue African-American lynchings, and mass communist hysteria. If you weren't a Caucasian, red, white, and blue blooded American you were a "damn commie and deserved whatever you got", in those days.

The fact of the matter is, America took a bad turn over the last decade or so. Canada included, so North America as a whole. Let me quote you an excerpt from a statement I made to a friend recently, summing up the liberal and conservative sects of government:

Conservatives dislike change. They don't like anything rocking the boat. Their entire viewpoint is based around keeping things the same. But by that same token, their primary skillset comes into play with making the best of what they have. They take what they have, and do as much with it as possible. They may fear change, for the same legitimate and illegitimate reasons that we all do... but they make due and work with the world they have rather than the world that could be.

Liberals are driven by the idea of change. The system is never quite good enough. Which is generally true, as the system does have a great many flaws. They won't stop for anything in order to alter the way things work, and this often comes with seemingly outrageous leaps in policy and spending. However, their strongest point is that they do in fact change the system for the better, and although it will cost in the long run, the longterm payoffs will be huge.

It's a matter of working with the system as it is versus trying to make a better system for the future, in essence. Both being honorable goals with their own specific pros and cons.

The Bush administration, however, was an anomaly. They had the negative elements of the conservative side; an utter fear of change and want to keep things exactly how they are. With the outrageous spending of the liberal side, except with no long term purpose. It represented the worst of both parties (though conservatives took the brunt of the hit, as it was the horse they unfortunately backed).

The USA is not inherently better than any other country simply because it's the USA. And that's the majority of the problem. When President Obama states something like "America has been arrogant", which I'm sure is a bastardized version of the actual statement, he's not wrong. The problem comes from the fact that "true patriots" believe their country, any country, is immune to arrogance. Here's an example as to why...

Take the health care reform debate. A large portion of the US is positively up in arms over the idea. "How dare Obama want such a thing!", they say. "It will never work!", they exclaim. Well that's the perfect example of the inverted and, yes, often times arrogant view of the United States. Every other successful country in the world has universal health care. But where the issue lies, is that historically the US doesn't look at anyone but the US.

It's a system that takes insurance out of the hands of greedy insurance companies, makes those $50,000 operations you could never afford if you broke your leg cost you literally nothing; and to clarify, no, you've heard wrong, in almost every country with universal health care it has virtually no impact on taxes. No more ridiculously overpriced doctors/medical services/insurance, essentially.

Yet there's still this incredibly vocal group of Americans, where if they'd only look outside their borders to ANY OTHER COUNTRY would realize that it works for everyone else. There's nothing inherently unique about the US that would make a globally tested and established system suddenly implode upon itself.

There is nothing terribly wrong with the United States of America either, but like any person, group, or country, it does makes mistakes and have flaws. What they need to do is realize that they are not flawless. Don't get me wrong, at the moment I'd call it a nicer place to live than Canada, since our leadership continues to be a poor man's version of the Bush administration. But "Better than Canada as it stands" isn't much of a compliment, I'm afraid.

What the president is doing is something that has eluded North America for the last decade or so. He's looking to the larger world outside instead of staying in a secluded state of inversion while telling off every other country that isn't the United States. One can only stay locked in their fortress of solitude for so long before they must go out into the world and scavenge for materials.

 

[outgum]

Just... This ^^
You could not have put that ANY better Ace.
Although, im probably completely wrong, but i feel you contridicte yourself just ALITTLE in some places

 

[Ace Gunman]

Just... This ^^
You could not have put that ANY better Ace.
Although, im probably completely wrong, but i feel you contridicte yourself just ALITTLE in some places

Hm? Really? I didn't notice, but if that is the case it's not entirely surprising, as I was trying to strike a balance between my interpretation of the conservative and liberal viewpoints.

 

[Disturbed1]

Please pass it on.

I got this from Serenes Forest. He didn't link to any article.

Sounds like a bad Republican chain letter to me.

 

[yuyuyup]

Neocons are scared to listen to Thom Hartman, they need to listen to dumbasses that justify trillions spent in a dumbass war, justify "oh god can't SOCIALIZE medicine, but don't take away my MEDICARE"

 

[Mangofett]

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it." - George Bernard Shaw

He has no valid points.

 

[Uncle FEFL]

I'm afraid it's called socialized health care for a reason. How about his plan to "spread the wealth around?" We the people (see; congress, "we the people" don't get to vote on any of this) are giving the government our money and letting them redistribute it at will. Welfare, medicare, Social Security, all of the government agencies, like the EPA and FDA. 60% of our income goes to the government. I wonder how much they'll need to put Obama's socialized medicine bill in...We've been a "mixed" economic country for a while, Dragon. There's communism-inspired agencies everywhere. That being said, this doesn't mean we are like China, et cetera. Our main focus --the free market-- isn't in danger at all. Obama is all for free market. Besides, socialists reject the very thought of "Obama a socialist!"

EDIT: Forgot a word

QUOTE(FEFL @ Nov 29 2009, 11:28 PM) Please pass it on.

I got this from Serenes Forest. He didn't link to any article.

Sounds like a bad Republican chain letter to me.

Yeah, it does... :/

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it." - George Bernard Shaw

He has no valid points.

+1

It's not because he's a war veteran he can change the world...

 

[htoxad]

I'm glad this patriot is giving up his government run VA healthcare and/or Medicare and getting the free market to take care of him.

 

[zeromac]

Viva la Revlution!!