Guest column
Misguided celebration of expensive monuments
Scott Schulte
Rob Portman’s celebration of a $75 million monument on his Twitter account is a warning to veterans. The warning is this: when you are alive, we do not care about you. When you are dead, we will build you a monument and thank you for your service.
Let us recap this. The memorial I am talking about is the National Veterans Memorial & Museum in Columbus, which is intended to open in Summer 2018. As a public-private partnership, one must seriously question the final cost on taxpayers, as interest, financial-transaction costs and maintenance are never included. Most estimates usually just cover construction costs. It’s a typical “you’re getting bang for your buck” scam. Why should veterans and even the public be upset with this construction? Not that it matters for this particular monument (as it’s already being built) but it should cause one to speak out against future constructions.
The most glaring issue is this: Sen. Portman voted to take away health care from 441,000 veterans in the United States and 8,700 in Ohio. Let’s ask ourselves a serious question: Would you rather have your health every day of your life or would you rather visit a monument a few times in your lifetime? Is a monument in your absence more important than your time left to live?
This particular issue really caught my attention. It did so because our elected officials would choose to build monuments when we have an opioid epidemic, failing pensions, crumbling infrastructure, ballooning household debt, a potential farming bust, student loan crisis, auto loan crisis and more bank scandals. It’s as if they’re doing it for a purpose.
Well, they are. All monuments are a tale of two eras. The first era is a tale of what it is about. The second era is a tale of when it went up. What is this particular monument about? It is about the business of war and the dark money that funds endless American intervention. All of the wars – Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria – have been utter catastrophes resulting in famine, disease and massive loss of human life. We are involved in endless wars overseas with thousands of American soldiers deaths and trillions of dollars spent with nothing to show for it. They have all been tragedies.
Why is this monument being constructed now? I believe the media has uncovered the atrocities of the U.S.-backed war in Yemen with slightly enough coverage for U.S. citizens to start questioning American imperialism. I believe Congress is concerned because the president is very open when discussing U.S. involvement in Afghanistan strictly for mineral extraction. One could surmise that politicians are worried that Hollywood has started exposing the business of war. Brad Pitt’s “War Machine,” for example, exposes our delusional leaders and the insanity of our wars.
The monument is probably being constructed now to whitewash history as we have always done when tensions are high. History of the confederate monuments shows that during the gains of the civil rights movements many of these monuments were erected. The point was to portray confederate generals as heroes for the white supremacists and to wash away Civil War history. Most need a reminder: the Civil War was fought over slavery and all against state’s rights. In other words, the South did not want the North to have the ability to tell them that if they brought their slaves to the north they would be free.
Lastly, I’ve only brought up Sen. Portman in supporting the construction of this monument, but it is important to know that Sen. Brown also approved its construction. Why is this important? Democrats and Republicans have long shared the same foreign policy interests. Part of the reason Democrats are struggling with so many votes today is because they are being aggressively exposed for doing so. Both parties have ties to dark monied pockets.
As Ryan Cooper, a journalist from The Week writes, “A truly humanitarian internationalism, by contrast — meaning, above all, a drastic reduction in the overseas use of force, as well as a return to serious diplomacy and obeying international law — actually would serve the national interest.”
Until the United States engages in humanitarian internationalism, our monuments are just a cover up for more dark money supporting the “war machine.” Bipartisanship here is the root of all evil and will draw the United States into bankruptcy.
Let us recap this. The memorial I am talking about is the National Veterans Memorial & Museum in Columbus, which is intended to open in Summer 2018. As a public-private partnership, one must seriously question the final cost on taxpayers, as interest, financial-transaction costs and maintenance are never included. Most estimates usually just cover construction costs. It’s a typical “you’re getting bang for your buck” scam. Why should veterans and even the public be upset with this construction? Not that it matters for this particular monument (as it’s already being built) but it should cause one to speak out against future constructions.
The most glaring issue is this: Sen. Portman voted to take away health care from 441,000 veterans in the United States and 8,700 in Ohio. Let’s ask ourselves a serious question: Would you rather have your health every day of your life or would you rather visit a monument a few times in your lifetime? Is a monument in your absence more important than your time left to live?
This particular issue really caught my attention. It did so because our elected officials would choose to build monuments when we have an opioid epidemic, failing pensions, crumbling infrastructure, ballooning household debt, a potential farming bust, student loan crisis, auto loan crisis and more bank scandals. It’s as if they’re doing it for a purpose.
Well, they are. All monuments are a tale of two eras. The first era is a tale of what it is about. The second era is a tale of when it went up. What is this particular monument about? It is about the business of war and the dark money that funds endless American intervention. All of the wars – Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria – have been utter catastrophes resulting in famine, disease and massive loss of human life. We are involved in endless wars overseas with thousands of American soldiers deaths and trillions of dollars spent with nothing to show for it. They have all been tragedies.
Why is this monument being constructed now? I believe the media has uncovered the atrocities of the U.S.-backed war in Yemen with slightly enough coverage for U.S. citizens to start questioning American imperialism. I believe Congress is concerned because the president is very open when discussing U.S. involvement in Afghanistan strictly for mineral extraction. One could surmise that politicians are worried that Hollywood has started exposing the business of war. Brad Pitt’s “War Machine,” for example, exposes our delusional leaders and the insanity of our wars.
The monument is probably being constructed now to whitewash history as we have always done when tensions are high. History of the confederate monuments shows that during the gains of the civil rights movements many of these monuments were erected. The point was to portray confederate generals as heroes for the white supremacists and to wash away Civil War history. Most need a reminder: the Civil War was fought over slavery and all against state’s rights. In other words, the South did not want the North to have the ability to tell them that if they brought their slaves to the north they would be free.
Lastly, I’ve only brought up Sen. Portman in supporting the construction of this monument, but it is important to know that Sen. Brown also approved its construction. Why is this important? Democrats and Republicans have long shared the same foreign policy interests. Part of the reason Democrats are struggling with so many votes today is because they are being aggressively exposed for doing so. Both parties have ties to dark monied pockets.
As Ryan Cooper, a journalist from The Week writes, “A truly humanitarian internationalism, by contrast — meaning, above all, a drastic reduction in the overseas use of force, as well as a return to serious diplomacy and obeying international law — actually would serve the national interest.”
Until the United States engages in humanitarian internationalism, our monuments are just a cover up for more dark money supporting the “war machine.” Bipartisanship here is the root of all evil and will draw the United States into bankruptcy.