"Hey, he can't spout political views, he's an active duty Marine Corps Officer."

Oh, but you are wrong. You see, there seems to be a general misconception concerning the political views and freedom of
expression when it comes to active duty service members. We CAN have our views and in fact we are ENCOURAGED to
have our own views or we would be no more than senseless automatons that blindly follow without question (another stupid
stereotype we must constantly dispel).

Where the trouble comes in is that we have sworn to uphold the orders of the President of the United States. If we bad mouth
the current administration, that would be introduce a conflict. That is not to say that we have to AGREE with the current state of
affairs but we have an obligation to separate our personal views from our professional obligation to support the President.
What we are discouraged from doing is publicly criticizing the current administration that could be perceived as doing so in an
official capacity. Such a fray was caused when some active duty Officers publicly criticized the President during the Monica
Lewinski scandal which opened up this entire debate. Arguments such as "A Marine is always in an official  capacity" versus
freedom of speech were rallied behind.

Truthfully, I am not a political person. I tend to ignore the constant stream of negative political rambling going on and believe that
a person could waste all of their free time listening, following, and worrying about political issues. But is that not why we elect
officials to spend their days doing that for us? Does that not free us to enjoy our own lives and pursue other interests?

I am not saying that we should ignore politics altogether. Having a working knowledge of the latest issues is necessary to
intelligently choose those who represent you to handle them. But to become enthralled in discussion of issues you have no
direct control over seems to me a waste of time. I would rather spend my precious time elsewhere.

So why am I starting a political page?  Because I run across information that does interest me and I have no other category to
place them in. So I created a new page and we will see how it goes.

-- Jason D. Grose

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