I am an American currently lining in America. I'm 26 years old and serving in the US Army. I'm telling you that for background information. NOT because I feel my opinion is more valuable. As a younger male in the United States I often see things in my country that upset me. I feel our taxes are too high. We spend roughly half of a trillion dollars each year on our military. This is foolish in my opinion. We would not need such a massive and powerful military if our elected leaders would take the time to act more appropriate. I often feel our military spending is so high because it replaces our need for quality Foreign affairs. With a massive military we can basically do as we see fit. If our elected leaders would stop being lazy and stop fighting over meaningless things then the American people would not need such a large military. Our taxes could be much lower. Or, if taxes need to remain high, lets spend the money on improving America. We do not need to spend more money on Education, we need to find ways to motivate the youth of this country. As a student in America I did not learn better by looking at a 52" plasma TV. I would have learned much more by being given quality teachers who understood how to make learning enjoyable. I would never be able to support universal health care. I believe Medicare and Medicaid are already a curse on this nation. Not to mention the disaster of Social Security. We don't need a large Federal Government taking our money, in the form of taxes, and giving it to whom ever they see fit. I'm currently struggling with my own financial difficulties and my government is giving billions of dollars to the same companies that are making my life difficult. I am also upset that my government feels the need to interfere in the affairs of other nations. It is not that I have not heart. I care about those in places like Myanmar or Somalia and I wish they could have a better life. However, I do not feel it is the job of my government to fix their country. Help the American Veteran who can't find work and is losing his home to foreclosure, help the single mother who can not afford to work less than 80 a month, but people call me cold hearted for saying, "Lets help our own first". I also feel the best way to help those in need is to take the money out of the hands of the government, lower taxes and allow people to donate it to charities. Let an adult choose to help those who need it. That said, I also must stand up in defense of my nation. As I said, I am Enlisted in the US Army. To any fool who thinks that the invasion of Iraq was for oil and to any moron who says things like, "No blood for Oil" consider thinking for 5 minutes before you speak. What Oil has American taken from Iraq? Even if we did, have we not more than paid for that oil with the money we have given those people and the lives of my friends. I do not believe there was terrorism in Iraq prior to the MULTI-NATIONAL invasion. I do not believe the real reason we went to Iraq was due to WMDs. I believe it was caused by a personnel problem between Bush Jr. and Saddam. Remember, Saddam did attempt to assassinate Bush Sr. Not many sons take to kindly to people attempting to murder their father. That is certainly not a good reason for war, but then it was not my choice nor was it the choice of 99% of Americans. Blame the American people for that if it helps you sleep at night, but consider this, I have yet to see gasoline prices go down due to the Iraq war, and America was not the only country to invade. Furthermore, if you are so ignorant as to hate an American individual simply for his citizenship then you truly are a lost cause. I was born here, I has no choice in that. I have been to foreign nations as a civilian and have been treated like I was dirt. Why? Because of my accent, my passport and because foolish people blame me for the mistakes of a President I did not elect. I do not hate a Muslim, even after seeing people who claim to be Muslim kill my friends. I do not hate a Frenchman for not supporting the United States in Iraq and I do not hate a North Korean for living in North Korea. So why does the world feel the need to hate me, the individual, for my citizenship? I am currently engaged to a woman who is not an American citizen. She "forgives" my birthplace. We have talked many times about living in another country. In all my searching I have yet to find any country that is perfect. I have been forced to accept that no matter where I live I will disagree with the government to some extent. So if I must disagree with a government I choose to disagree with my government. They are wrong almost constantly in my opinion but for all the faults of the United States can anyone say that the United States does not have it's redeeming qualities? Every nation, in my humble opinion, has wonderful qualities and problems that mask those qualities. America's real problem is not our shortcomings but our success. We attract the attention of the world and attention always comes with judgment.
SPC Daniels
USA