In my constant reading and researching on the war, I came across an interesting observation about the priorities of the primarily Democrat anti-war politicians. I will preface this article by saying that I realize there are war supporters and war protestors on both sides of the Congressional aisle. It is not fair to pigeon-hole any party and make broad assumptions about where all politicians stand. However, it is fair to point out that the majority of politicians speaking out against the war and putting forth legislation to defund the war or demanding an immediate withdrawal of our troops (however ill conceived that might be) are Democrats.

So having said all that, here is the idea that caught my attention. The Democratic party is traditionally in favor of granting broad social benefits to illegal immigrants. Broad social benefits that involve broad government spending. However, this same political party that is willing to extend welfare benefits to illegal immigrants is willing to take money away from our military. The anti-war Democrats may be willing to spend our tax dollars on health insurance for illegal immigrants, but they don’t want to spend that money on troops who are fighting a war on terror. There is no talk on Capital Hill of defunding social programs that exist primarily to address the needs of illegal immigrants, but the Congressional anti-war Democrats are spending every minutes they can to campaign to defund a war that is still being fought. I cannot think of a clearer example of political priorities being severely out of touch with reality.

How can we seriously consider funding illegal immigrants, but refuse to fund our troops who are in harm’s way? The men and women who are putting their lives in danger in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve more than that. They deserve to be more than a political pawn, they deserve to be more than a budgetary weapon to use against the President. There should not be any talk about defunding a war when we still have troops fighting it. How is that blatant illogic of that statement not immediately obvious? Defunding a war when out military is still actively engaged in fighting the enemy is tantamount to abandoning our service members. Whether members of Congress support the war or not they must give our troops the equipment and resources they need to defend themselves and this country until Congress pulls them out. To do any less is irresponsible and reprehensible.