How many more years?

How many more years?

The annoyance, the damage and the blatant gaslighting that goes with the basing of the F-35 in a densely populated area such as Burlington and its surroundings is, to me, only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath it all lies the prevailing message that has been drummed into our heads from the time we were able venture forth into world: that outside our borders lie threats that would endanger us to the point of utter annihilation. I'm going back a ways here, back to a time when kindergartners were drilled to cower under their desks, to know where the nearest fallout shelter was, to live in fear of the other. How little has changed, even after the warning that Eisenhower gave the country. Eisenhower, who, before rising to his vaunted status, languished in a sparsely funded military that trained with wooden props prior to WWII. Yet we still managed to win that one. What changed? How did we go from the land of the brave to the land that trades security for freedom and gets neither? Maybe in our tiny corner of the world we can push back and get the F-35 out of here but the gorilla in the room isn't going anywhere as far as I can tell.