By Robert Dean
For the Carter County Times
We’ve got an obsession with blaming the other.
The guy holding a sign? Can’t keep a job. Probably a junkie.
The mom sleeping in her car? Must’ve screwed up somewhere. Look at that guy looking for work out in front of the Home Depot. I bet his cousin sells drugs.
Everyone has a story about how they hit bottom. But often, it’s not the bottom—it’s their whole life. It’s the system we’ve carved out for people scratching out an existence in a cruel climate. Doesn’t matter how you got there: in America, we sweep you under the rug.
When someone returns home from battle, they should be afforded the promises made: school, housing, a stable life. No one should fight a rich man’s war, but plenty sign up out of duty—or looking for their way out. They held up their end of the bargain. And if they come home changed after being taught to kill or be killed, can you blame them for not being able to work in a paint store?
Every day, I see men in faded Marines jackets or holding signs that say “former vet” on the median in the middle of the road. But, while this guy bakes in the heat, the city put up those metal spikes on the library ledge. Problem solved. A contractor’s CEO made $42 million last year. The veteran got a bus ticket to ‘anywhere but here.’
When politicians talk about ‘supporting our troops,’ they mean sending them to war, not welcoming them home. They’ll wrap themselves in the flag for a photo op, then vote against VA funding faster than they cash their defense lobby checks. Patriotism is a hell of a drug when you’re not the one shooting—or getting shot at. “Ain’t that America?” as John Mellencamp crooned.
As the machine of the world grinds on, these folks slip through the cracks. They wind up on the side of the road holding a sign. Someone snaps a photo. Puts it on Facebook.
Then come the questions: Why do immigrants get money? Why do “they” get handouts? Why don’t these people have a place to live? The answer’s in the question. It’s easier to blame a boogeyman than to face reality.
The Budget Reality (By the Numbers)
In 2023, the Pentagon’s budget was over $850 billion, while the entire housing assistance budget – including programs for the homeless – was under $100 billion.
Experts estimate it would cost just $11–30 billion a year to end homelessness in the U.S.—a fraction of what we spend on tanks, bombs, and bullets.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. has allocated approximately $182.8 billion in emergency funding. Roughly $83.4 billion has already been disbursed, some as loans, some as weapons. Since September 2024, the U.S. has spent a record $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel—the highest in a single year. I don’t want my tax dollars going toward killing people. I want them making sure everyone has something to eat, and a roof over their heads. We should care about the war on making everyone’s lives better, not how Raytheon or Black Rock make another billion.
The False Choice Narrative
We’re not choosing between veterans and immigrants.
We’re choosing between stuffing defense contractors’ pockets or giving people a roof over their heads. Jeff Bezos got billions in subsidies. Your cousin got denied SNAP for making $200 too much. Fairness is a rigged game these days.
We blame immigrants. We blame the homeless. We blame everyone but the ones holding the purse strings. We have the cash. We don’t have the will to spend it on our people. I don’t care if you’re red, blue, or disgusted by both—we should all agree that no American who served this country should sleep on the ground tonight.
Everyone deserves a place to live.
Don’t tell us where our taxes go without a tally sheet showing whose pockets are being stuffed. No matter what you do – or did – for a living, you deserve to sleep somewhere dry. Somewhere safe. If the wealthiest country in the world can fund wars across the globe, but won’t make sure its own people have a bed at night, maybe it’s not the poor who are failing the system.
If you served your nation, you deserve a roof and a full stomach.
If you walked for three months with your stuff in a plastic bag to find hope and a better life, you’re welcome to be my neighbor.
Maybe it’s the system failing all of us.
Because the real welfare queens wear a suit and tie.
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