Originally written as an letter to the editor, submitted to the Post & Courier in advance of Flag Day, they opted not to publish it. A longer version will appear in an upcoming issue of The Freethought News.
I could not have had a more patriotic beginning. I was born on Flag Day in 1942, during World War II, at Liberty Hospital in Philadelphia, birthplace of the nation and the flag purportedly designed by Betsy Ross. As a child, I wanted to believe family members who told me that flags were hung in my honor on my birthday. I will be 83 years old on Saturday, June 14, the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
Unfortunately, I’m not as proud of my birthday as I used to be. I am exactly four years older than Donald Trump, who plans to waste close to 42 million taxpayer dollars for a parade in DC to celebrate his birthday. No doubt Trump believes that tanks and soldiers on display will make America, and its president, look tough and strong. It would have been better to spend the money to support the military.
Trump never served in the military, receiving an exemption during the Vietnam War because of bone spurs in his heels
Trump once made fun of a real war hero, John McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for five and a half years. Trump said, "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you."
There are so many causes that our government could better spend 42 million on than to glorify Donald Trump.
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