Every reasonable American should be very angry. After all, there’s a lot to be angry about. Not least of which, 300,000 veterans died waiting for care from the VA. How about the 50,000 veterans sleeping on the streets tonight?
But yeah, some people think there’s nothing to be angry about.
Clearly, America has more material possessions in 2017 than ever before. But maybe material possessions aren’t everything.
There are tons of angry people with no right to be angry. More people have more opportunity at college than at any other time in history, and they don’t have any reason to be angry or demand others pay for them.
It’s easy to mock these protestors and their demands for more material possessions. It’s easy to say they have no reason to be angry. They don’t deserve free healthcare, and they don’t deserve free college. But just because some people are angry about stupid things doesn’t mean that there’s no reason to be angry.
It’s not surprising that an angry person decided to lambast all the angry people while justifying his own anger. It’s to be expected, because he’s angry. But he should do us all a favor and shut up, because there’s a lot to be angry about. Here are a few Quin Hillyer didn’t consider in his March 9 op-ed.
I’m angry about Big Brother watching over my shoulder. I’m mad that FISA courts bypass my Fourth Amendment rights almost automatically. Only 11 of 33,900 surveillance applications were denied over a 33-year period. That’s practically a free pass to go around the Constitution. Sure, we may have more TVs than ever before, but the government never used to use them to listen to and gather information on American citizens.
I’m mad about public corruption. I’m angry that the IRS was caught targeting political opposition for extra scrutiny. Sure, we may make more money, but the American people have rarely seen such executive power levied against political opponents.
As a veteran, I am angry that the VA has completely failed those it was created to serve. About 300,000 veterans died waiting for care, but that didn’t stop the VA from giving out $142 million in bonuses. Tonight, veterans will be sleeping in the streets, but at least the VA looks nice with $20 million worth of art hanging on the walls.
The prose of Sir Thomas Browne says it best, about anyone who does not feel anger over this, “(Though I feel his pulse) I dare not say he lives; for truly without this, to me, there is no heat under the tropic; nor any light, though I dwelt in the body of the sun.”
So yeah, count me as one of the angry people. When I enlisted as an Airborne Infantryman, this is not what I vowed to fight for. Count me as one of those who would dare be angry about something in America.
I, for one, am glad that people are angry. That means things are going to change. If people weren’t angry about how the government is running, they would continue to vote the same way and get the same policies.
I can only imagine the thoughts of King George III when angry Americans fired those first shots on that Lexington Green. It must have been something like “Americans, materially speaking, have nothing to be angry about.”
Chris Kolbach is editor of Conservative Newsstand (a sister publication to the Washington Examiner).
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