North Carolina Redder Than Ever

Dear Editor,

Yes, there was a red wave but not on Nov. 8.

The red wave occurred during the past 12 years as hundreds of thousands of people migrated from blue states (less free) to red ones (more free). There has long been a worry expressed by the people who already lived in the freer states that the newcomers would bring their liberal politics that ruined the place from which they came with them.

Worry no more. It turns out the people doing the migrating were more or less conservatives. Hence the results in Florida, North Carolina, Texas and some others. The other edge of that sword is that every red voter that flees a blue state is one less red voter in that state. So, we have inflated expectations in blue state races.

North Carolina is redder than it has ever been. That is a good thing. Expect more ideological migrating in the future.

​Richard D. Miller

 

Remember Our Veterans

Dear Editor,

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the War to End All Wars, the Great War, ended. This was the birth of Veterans Day.

To my brothers and sisters in arms, past, present and future, I say it was, no, is an honor and a pleasure to serve with you. I say that because most any veteran will tell you they never quit serving.

I encourage everyone to do some family research. You may be surprised at what you find. I discovered a relative who was a major in the Revolutionary War. I have a relative, Col. J.K. Marshall, commanding the 52 NC Regiment in Pettigrew’s brigade under Heth’s division. He ultimately became the division commander as they reached the Union lines and was reported to have said, “Boys, some of us won’t see the end of the day.” He died a few moments later. I found out I’m a direct descendent of Gen George C. Marshall. I had an uncle who made the Bataan Death March and ended up dying on a Japanese hell ship (research them) that was torpedoed by American submarines.

My father was USAF. I was parachute infantry. My son was a Marine and I have two grandsons, one a Marine, the other Army Reserve about to deploy to Poland.

I can safely say that 99.9 percent of veterans are very proud of what they did. They are even more proud of being a member of the brother/sisterhood we have formed. After Vietnam we were despised. But something changed and the American people began to remember. We started to become respected once again. We don’t ask for nor expect special treatment. We are fathers, mothers and brothers, sisters, who did what we did because we felt it was the right thing to do, and speaking for myself I would do it again in a heartbeat.

The Armed Forces have fallen short of their recruiting goals. This scares and disturbs me. What happened to this generation? Do they think what they have just given? No! It was paid for and there is still an outstanding bill.

Please remember this quote: “A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount up to and including their life.”

Carpe diem and hug a vet.

Alan Marshall

 

 

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