Author: Jan Creasman

My father was not a sucker, Mr. President

Ssgt Carroll “Bud” Creasman was my father. He was in the Army in the Pacific theater in World War II, and served with honor. My brother Chuck served in the Navy, and he served with honor as well.

But Donald Trump says they were suckers. He says their comrades who died in action were losers.  Back in 2018,  Trump was in France for events marking the 100th anniversary of World War I, and he was supposed to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris.  He chose not to go.  We now know why:

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

Private Bone Spurs denies this story, of course, but he is lying.  It has been corroborated by multiple news organizations, including Fox News, and it is entirely consistent with his previous public remarks.  The entire Republican Party is either silent about the scandal, or denying it.  None of them—none of them—have had the decency to do what Republicans have so long claimed to do, which is support the troops.

“Suckers.”  “Losers.”

It is time for the people who really understand patriotism, who really understand duty and service and just plan decency, to vote the Party of Trump out of office, permanently.  All of them.  They’ve shown us all that they don’t understand the difference between superficial support for the military, and genuine respect for those in uniform and the commitment behind their service.  Republicans stand for nothing except keeping themselves in power at all costs.  They are un-American.

 

Jan’s progressive platform

Education: Education is key to creating a healthy society that is based in humanitarian values. It transforms lives and creates capable adult citizens. Far from being an expense, education is an investment in the future of our economy in particular, and our society in general. Education, especially public education, has been under attack by Republican lawmakers for years, because they know an ignorant community is easier to lead by fear.

Worker protection: Unions level the playing field between workers and employers. FDR knew that protection of worker safety, benefits, and livable wages were essential. Our middle class developed and flourished over the objections of Republicans to labor unions. The decades of Republican leadership have given us stagnant real wages even as we increase our productivity. We are now seeing the middle class squeezed into nonexistence, and it has to stop. Right to work for less laws need to be repealed, along with all the other laws designed to break labor unions, in both the public and private sectors.

Health care is a right, not a privilege for the wealthy. We shouldn’t have to choose between health care and making the rent. Iowa’s privatization of Medicaid benefits the cronies of Republicans, on the backs of our children, elderly, persons with disabilities, and those battling mental health issues. It is a disgrace. It’s time for Iowans to be represented by people who are not interested in lining their own pockets with taxpayer dollars.

Environment: Iowa waterways need to be cleaned up. They continue to be polluted while Republican lawmakers continue ignore the long term health of the environment.

Voting is a right, but your right to vote has little meaningful protection. Over and over again—with voter ID laws, restrictions on early voting, and deliberate purging of voter rolls—Republican lawmakers have shown that they don’t want voters to participate in elections. Low turnout elections benefit Republicans, so they are willing to intimidate voters into staying home on election day. Nothing could be more un-American. I think it is the duty of county and state government to make sure every eligible voter is registered and encouraged to vote.

Common sense gun regulation: Republican lawmaker keep telling us the government can’t do anything about mass shootings. They’re wrong. We have the example of Australia, which decided 22 years ago that they would do something about mass shootings. The result: no mass shootings at all in Australia from 1996 to May 2018. There’s plenty we can do, and Republican lawmakers are the obstacle.

Tormenting children is un-American

I have been a social worker for 41 years.  For most of that time, my mission was to ensure the safety of children, many of whom needed protection from the worst kinds of abuse.  What is happening to children on our southern border, to be plain, is the worst kind of child abuse.

We know that tearing children away from their families is a deliberate Republican policy.  We know that the policy is so awful that the Trump administration has been lying about the policy they announce on the record, claiming that it doesn’t exist.  We know the children are being held in horrible conditions, in cages.  We know that every Democratic U.S. Senator has cosponsored a bill to end the practice, and that no Republican Senator has endorsed it.  And we know that a solid majority of rank and file Republicans are behind the policy.

It is shameful that in the 21st Century, we have sunk so low that we have to even discuss this:  harming children is wrong.  Doing it for political gain is even more wrong.  A political party that doesn’t reject this practice wholeheartedly, and impeach its authors, is more than just wrong.  They are permanently disqualified from serving in government.