Hillary Clinton is clearly the right choice to become our next commander in chief

My 20 years in the U.S. Army, including a tour of duty in Vietnam, gave me an ever-widening view of the world and what it means to be an American.

Being an American includes exercising our Constitutional right to vote.

Throughout our history, the American people have defeated demagogues like Donald Trump. But, in order to do that we all need to stand up and vote thoughtfully for our next commander in chief.

Trump’s history includes disparaging prisoners of war such as Sen. John McCain, lying about his support for veterans, including false claims about giving money to veterans’ charities, scamming veterans out of their money through Trump University and unconscionably criticizing the Muslim family of a slain U.S. soldier.

At the recent Commander in Chief Forum, Trump criticized American military officers, saying that America’s generals have been “reduced to rubble.” Trump also suggested that it’s OK to send our military around the globe to plunder enemies’ natural resources, like oil.

He spoke glowingly of privatizing veterans’ health care, and he made a priority of lavishing praise on Vladimir Putin, Russia’s dictatorial leader.

According to the nonpartisan Research and Policy Institute, Trump’s plan to cut taxes for the richest among us would necessitate cuts to a number of vital services, including veterans’ medical care.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has spent decades fighting for veterans, members of the military and their families. As a US Senator on the Armed Services Committee, she helped to expand military benefits to cover reservists and the National Guard.

Currently, she has proposed a comprehensive plan to help support active military and veterans, including: expanding family leave and access to child care for families juggling the demands of military service and parenthood, engaging the private sector to boost training and job opportunities for the husbands and wives of our military members, taking family circumstances into account during military reassignments around the world and championing the care and needs of service members by establishing a standing council for service members, veterans, and military families to ensure government agencies are meeting their needs.

Hillary Clinton is committed to supporting our soldiers and our veterans. She is clearly the right choice to become our next commander in chief.

 

KENNETH PETERSON

Buchanan