A Billion More Reasons to be Concerned
by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired
August 23, 2012

In recent days there have been reports of various agencies of the Obama Administration purchasing large quantities of small arms ammunition, over a billion rounds of hollow point ammunition to be exact. (The purpose of hollow point ammunition is to inflict severe flesh, bone and organ damage and is not allowed in combat.) That is interesting and scary given the prospect if not likelihood of civil unrest when Obama suffers election defeat in November. It is noteworthy to mention that in the ten years of U.S. involvement in Iraq the military used less than a billion rounds. This Administration's recent behavior is enough to make one's skin crawl, admittedly there's nothing new to that.

Readers should recall Obama's speech in 2008 about "community service" in which he said,

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

When one reflects on the rise of the Bolsheviks in the U.S.S.R. and of the National Socialists in Germany, in both cases a small minority through both legal and illegal means wrested power for themselves and imposed terror on the populations of both nations; incidentally, both regimes were socialist. So much so was the terror, that millions of people who did not roll over were terminated. It is axiomatic that when a brutal and totalitarian government begins to impose its will through force, people become silent... and compliant. It is something that tyrants through ages have known and employed. Is there any doubt that about Obama?

Consider the catastrophe brought about in four years by Obama and his Czars, and all the while, in former Secretary of State Albright's words, "we'll blame Bush forever." Chairwoman of the Democrat National Committee Debbie Wasserman-Schultz stated on June 15th, 2011,

“We own the economy. We own the beginning of the turnaround and we want to make sure that we continue that pace of recovery, not go back to the policies of the past under the Bush administration that put us in the ditch in the first place.”

It is remarkable that anyone who is watching events would suggest that there is an economic turnaround given: that there are more people out of work now than when Obama took office; more people than at any time in history are on food stamps; more businesses are moving overseas; citizens suffer from the highest gas prices in history; stealth, but real hyperinflation is underway (i.e. price of gas has doubled in four years); economic expansion at a standstill; and more effort to tamp down free markets than any Administration in the history of the country. Oh, yes, and real unemployment is around 15%.

Obama has clearly stated that the economic and governmental system that made this the greatest nation in the history of the world doesn't work, that it has failed and that he has much work left to do. By "much work left to do" Obama means that this election is about a choice of going back to prosperity (the free market economy system) by killing the goose that laid the golden egg (taking from producers and giving to non producers), or what amounts by any reasonable standard, socialism.

Bill Clinton and Congressional Democrats with complicit Republicans set the stage for the crash of 2008. It was the "perfect storm" and timing for the pied Obama piper was perfect, almost as though orchestrated. The question now is: "Having been fooled once about just who he is and what his intentions are, are Americans so utterly naive and totally ignorant as to elect him again?" I think not!

In recent days the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin E. Dempsey said,

"If someone uses the uniform for partisan politics, I'm disappointed in that...I think it erodes that bond of trust we have with the American people."

In a phrase, "General Dempsey blew it." His observation is absolutely true of those on active duty, but Dempsey's implied suggestion that retired or former military members who bought-and-paid-for the right to freedom of expression should refrain from exercising that right, is contemptible. With all due respect, General Dempsey would serve all Americans better by keeping silent on the subject and letting civilians and former military members and retirees handle political issues. Otherwise, what confidence would Americans have that Dempsey would refrain from turning on the majority of American people with those billion lethal rounds purchased by disparate agencies of the Obama Administration (for target practice?).

Semper Fidelis

P.S. Paul Ryan; like McCain/Palin, Romney now has a campaign that conservatives can enthusiastically embrace; this time the results will be different.

Copyright © August 23rd, 2012, by Robert L. Pappas. With proper attribution, this essay may be quoted and redistributed, except it may not be used in conjunction with any advertisement without the author’s expressed written permission.