Many of our presidents have used our armed forces as pawns in their efforts to increase their popularity.

If their approval rating started to slip, they manufactured a reason to send our young men into harm’s way.

Since the end of World War II, there have not been any military actions supported by our country that have had any long-term results that benefited our country.

A few well-known examples are Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq. But lesser known ones are Granada, Yugoslavia, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Tang Island. There are others too.

We have lost too many of our sons and daughters because our leaders are obsessed with the need to use our military power. This has also led to uncounted numbers of innocent civilian casualties in the countries involved.

While the United States is militarily involved in several countries in the Middle East, we are contemplating aggressive action in North Korea.

This supports the old story that for a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Don’t let our president, as others have done, escalate tensions around the world as an excuse to make our country more militaristic than it already is.

Use you voices and your vote.    

Thomas Rea

Edwardsburg