The ultimate betrayal

On Veterans Day, America thanks its veterans. Every day, many veterans search for meaning and some good that made their service and their sacrifice worthwhile. For those of us who fought in Korea and Vietnam, it is a frustrating search.

An article in the current issue of "VFW" magazine; "Soviet Communism's Downfall, 20 Years Ago," begins; "Startling finding; according to a citizenship test administered by Newsweek and reported in the March 28 & April 4, 2011, edition, a whopping 73% of Americans could not identify communism as the ideology America opposed during the Cold War."

To many young Americans, the words "communism," "Marxism" and "socialism" have little or no negative impact. They missed "The Cold War." They also missed the "hot" wars of Korea and Vietnam. They are oblivious to the murder of sixty million under Stalin and Mao. They are unaware of communist VC atrocities, the tens of thousands who perished after the fall of Saigon, or the inhumanity of the "Killing Fields" of Cambodia. What they think they know, they've learned from leftist professors preaching utopian collectivist ideology.

"Occupy Wall Street" activists proudly espouse socialism and demonize capitalism. It doesn't raise an eyebrow. They carry the full support of the Communist Party USA, the American Nazi Party, the Communist Party of China, Hezbollah, the International Bolshevik Tendency, the Socialist Party of America, the International Socialist Organization, the Marxist Student Union, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

In political discourse today, debate is often bogged down in semantic arguments over narrowly defined variations of collectivism. Early in his struggle for power, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro once said; "I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement." Barack Obama often employs sarcastic jabs to deflect those who label him as "Marxist," or "socialist." We know he sought out Marxist professors, mentors and pastors. We know he favors "spreading the wealth" from those who have the ability, to those who have the need, but he scoffs at any suggestion he is a Marxist, or a socialist. Meanwhile, members of the Obama administration quote Lenin, Marx and Chairman Mao. The specific strain of collectivism is unimportant. They are all simply shades of red. All redistribute wealth. All undermine liberty, innovation, responsibility, scientific advancement, free enterprise, prosperity and initiative.

Almost 100,000 American men died fighting communism under Democratic Party presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson. Over 400,000 were wounded. JFK risked nuclear Armageddon, facing down the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962.

For the past three years, America has been in the opening stages of fundamentally transforming into an image of the very thing we fought against. It is a repudiation of everything veterans lived for and died for. To veterans, the ascent of collectivist philosophy in America is the ultimate betrayal, on top of the final insult, heaped on the final injury. It is the ultimate desecration of our rapidly filling graves.

It is not just the pain of seeing America embrace the ideology we fought against. It is the tactics being used against those of us who believe in capitalism and free enterprise. Prior to being assigned to the Mekong Delta Mobile Riverine Force, in 1968, I received S.E.R.E. (Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape) training. The classroom training included "communist indoctrination methods." The field training included a realistic simulated "P.O.W." compound exercise. We were subjected to the same tactics our P.O.W.'s experienced during the Korean War. We heard speeches designed to break discipline and divide us. Black men were told the whites didn't see them as equals. Enlisted men were told they had nothing in common with the officers. We were told the officers were rich, while we were poor. We saw class warfare at its best, long before my own president began to use it on his own country.

Barack Obama will never warn us of "The Red Menace," or Islamic Jihad. He isn't working fast and furious to raise the alarm of well-armed Mexican drug cartels. He wants America to be afraid, but only of his enemies. He wants us to be angry, but only at his scape goats. According to our president, the threat to America comes from Republicans, TV networks, talk radio hosts, bankers, Wall Street and "the rich.'

To many, all of this is "just politics." To veterans who spilled blood, sweat and tears defending America against the enemies of democracy, capitalism and free enterprise, it is much more. There is a scene in the 1972 movie, "The Godfather," in which "Michael" (Al Pacino) tells of his plans to defend the family. He assures his family; "It's not personal. It's business."

For us, it's not business. It's personal.

Terry Sater

Van Buren, Mo.