I saw an article yesterday about Vice President Pence flying cross-country on Air Force Two to attend the San Francisco 49ers game. Only he left during the national anthem–before the game began. And he told his secret service detail to keep the cars where they were because he wasn’t going to be staying long. Huh? Apparently he wasn’t attending the game at all but making a political statement on players who kneel during the national anthem. That’s one mighty expensive statement. I mean, the costs to take a government jet (usually a Boeing 757) 2,500 miles are astronomical–his security detail and staff, press, and car, etc. dwarfs a flight in coach on American or United. What’s wrong with attending a Washington Redskins game, down the road from the VP’s Naval Observatory residence?
Here’s the original article I referenced on Facebook. Now, I avoid posting partisan political articles because we have a very divided country. But I do comment (time permitting, which isn’t often) on things that don’t make sense–whether it slams Democrats or Republican, I don’t care. Stupidity is not a partisan quality. But–you can imagine that people invariably read into my motives and think I’m criticizing “their” party. I’m not. I’m criticizing actions taken that do not serve the people–politicians are elected to serve the people, not play political games that waste valuable taxpayer money. Although they’re elected to serve, many lose sight of why they’re being paid to do a very, very important job. It’s not to defend their party’s agenda or ideology. It’s to run the country efficiently for the betterment of the people. Often that means compromising, reaching a middle ground, to get things done. No one person or party has all the answers or is always right.
I did get partisan comments regarding my post of VP Pence’s irresponsible spending of taxpayer money to make a five minute appearance–which amounted to a game of a different sort: political, not football. I was not criticizing the party. Just government waste. Here’s what I wrote on Facebook in response to the partisan postings–which missed the point of the post:
I hate government waste. I don’t care who’s doing it, Democrats or Republicans, or both. This is NOT a partisan issue. It’s a lack of concern for the value of money—taxpayer money, on both sides. It’s been going on for as long as I can remember and I’ve been complaining about it for as long as I can remember. Point is, if the politicians are spending our money frivolously—aka wasting it—that’s money that can be used for education, the homeless, the poor, the military, the VA, the arts…the lists, and needs, are endless. There is ZERO accountability. We either raise taxes, cut important programs, or borrow more and increase our $4 trillion deficit. Everyone needs to stop thinking “defend Democrats,” “defend Republicans.” How about some common sense on everyone’s part? We’re Americans. Period. When did people forget that? Solve the problem. Taking sides does no one any good—but one thing it DOES do is perpetuate the problem.