Socialism in Uniform, Abandonment at Home
America funds socialism in the military, capitalism everywhere else, and leaves broken veterans behind.
On September 28, a mass shooting struck a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
A 40-year-old Marine Corps veteran rammed his car into the church doors, fired an assault rifle into the Sunday service crowd, and set the building on fire. Four people were killed, eight injured, including children. Police shot him dead within minutes. Three improvised explosive devices were also found at the scene.
Just twelve hours earlier, another Iraq War veteran opened fire in a North Carolina bar. Three people were killed, eight injured. In August, yet another veteran opened fire in a Minneapolis church, killing two children and wounding fourteen.
This is becoming hard to ignore. More and more veterans are showing up in mass shooting headlines.
Socialism in Uniform
I came across a video of a veteran saying something that stuck with me:
“They use socialism to bring us into the military, and use us to defend capitalism.”
That line explains a lot.
Inside the military, service members get what ordinary Americans are denied. Free healthcare. Housing allowances. The GI Bill for education. VA loans. Pensions.
These aren’t perks. They are socialist-style benefits, designed to pull in poor young people who can’t afford college, medical bills, or housing.
But when those same soldiers are deployed, they don’t defend social welfare. They defend capitalism.
You live under socialism in uniform, but you fight for capitalism in practice.
Abandoned After Service
Once service ends, the benefits end too.
Many veterans come back with PTSD, depression, or addiction. The Department of Veterans Affairs reports veteran suicide rates are about 57 percent higher than the civilian average. Veteran homelessness remains stubbornly high, with tens of thousands living on the streets on any given night.
The U.S. spends nearly $850 billion a year on the Pentagon, but only about $120 billion on the VA. That imbalance says everything. Soldiers are expensive to use, but cheap to discard.
So when veterans snap, it should not surprise anyone. Guns are everywhere. Trauma runs deep. Violence feels familiar.
Media Distraction
Yet when the news breaks, the focus drifts.
Was the shooter white? MAGA? Leftist? Trump supporter?
This is identity politics used as a distraction. While the public fights over labels, the structural questions go untouched:
Why are more and more veterans showing up in mass shootings? Not every mass shooting involves a veteran, but the recent trend is clear. Some veterans, often struggling with depression or PTSD, are turning their training and access to weapons into violence at home.
Why do Americans accept socialist-style benefits inside the military, but reject them for everyone else? The free healthcare, housing support, and education benefits given to service members are not perks. They are principles of socialism. The problem is that they only apply if you put on a uniform.
Why does America spend trillions to wage war, but balk at funding mental health and housing for the people who fought those wars?
Capital and Life
The cycle is brutal.
Soldiers are called heroes when they are useful. When they come home broken, they are abandoned.
That is the reality today.
The U.S. uses socialism to raise soldiers, then capitalism to discard them.
SO interesting…I had never thought about the socialism/capitalism:military/civilian relationships before. Lots to ponder.
How does a young man with no university education, no experience, no job, trade or career prospects in an economically depressed region get three, square meals per day?
I think we know where this is going. And it looks rather like class warfare.