Ilhan Omar Pushes 'Truly Ignorant Idea': Give GI Bill Benefits to Americans Who Never Served
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota apparently loves the money for college that comes with the GI Bill. She just doesn’t think military service should be required to earn it.
In the left’s latest stab at infuriating sensible Americans, the Minnesota radical took to Twitter last week to publicize an article written by a Marine veteran-turned-Democratic-strategist who called for free college education for all and canceling all student loan debt.
She got plenty of responses, and many weren’t the welcoming kind.
It is very simple.
You want an degree, college education, pay for it!
Or join the service & EARN IT.As for cancelling #studentloans…
Your Dept, YOUR responsibility!
No one made you get the loan!#IlhanOmar #GIBill @seanhannity #Veteranshttps://t.co/1popk1xYO8— Geek Steve (@AnArtfulPenguin) February 10, 2020
To be fair, Omar wasn’t just shooting her own mouth off (as she often does). She was opening her social media platform to an Alternet article by Will Fischer, a Marine veteran of the Iraq war who now runs the Democrat-friendly consulting firm Port Side Strategies in Washington.
(“Port” is nautical speak for “left.” Get it?)
“Imagine what it would do for our country and those who live here if we were to take the ethos behind the original G.I. Bill and apply it to everybody — canceling all student debt and making public colleges, universities, and vocational schools tuition-free,” Fischer wrote in the segment Omar tweeted.
Fischer not only called for making college free, he essentially branded the terms of the GI Bill — in which veterans get money for college in return for their military service to the nation — “immoral.”
“This argument offers not only a false choice, but also an immoral one — suggesting that individuals should have to choose between having an opportunity for a future by participating in never-ending U.S. wars or not having such an opportunity; making one choose to either put on a uniform or take on crushing debt,” he wrote. “Nonsense.”
That’s one way of looking at it.
Another way to look at it is that nothing’s free. Everything has to be paid for, and in a moral world, the person who’s paying for something is the one who’s benefiting from it.
Under the GI Bill, taxpayers pony up higher-education costs for those who’ve served in the military because the country has benefited from that service (and thanks to a bill signed by President Donald Trump in 2017, there’s no longer a 15-year window that limits when those benefits can be used). Veterans, in turn, have earned the money they can get for college through their service to the country.
In the world of Democratic officials like Ilhan Omar and Democratic strategists, Americans should not only be eligible for free college without contributing anything to their country, those with past loan debts should be forgiven.
The backlash was bitter — from veterans and non-veterans alike.
I’m a recipient of the GI Bill. The GI Bill was earned by agreeing to serve my country for six years and to put my life at risk as an infantryman in Afghanistan. It wasn’t something just given to me with nothing expected in return. Don’t cheapen our sacrifice w/ this comparison. pic.twitter.com/4CNspm8gXt
— Chris Manning (@Manning4USCong) February 7, 2020
I’m a veteran. When I was active duty, I contributed to my GI Bill. It wasn’t free.
— TruthSeeker313⭐⭐⭐ (@TruthFreedom17) February 8, 2020
My dad was a WWII vet who went to Brown University on the GI Bill. He still worked as a truck driver on the side to pay for his family’s food and housing while attending school full time.
He didn’t get “free” college. He paid his way with his service to the nation. https://t.co/lRQ6oRsck5
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) February 7, 2020
YOU WANT the GI Bill @IlhanMN for EVERYONE?
What a truly ignorant idea that is…there are enough programs for those that DO NOT serve
Rep. Ilhan Omar promotes call for GI Bill to apply to all Americanshttps://t.co/zCh8rpSV27
— Forever AQUITTED (@FAquitted) February 10, 2020
This one summed it up perfectly, though.
“By definition, you can’t take the ethos behind the original G.I. Bill and apply it to everybody,” a Twitter user wrote.
“It goes from ‘rewarding those who serve and sacrifice’ to ‘free s— for everybody.’
“Not really the same ethos, is it?”
No, it’s not the same “ethos” at all. And anyone who gave the matter any thought at all should realize that. Being a veteran and a Democratic political consultant doesn’t free anyone from the bounds of logic.
But that’s not important to an opportunist like Omar, who clearly saw a chance to use a piece written by a veteran to advance her own cause of putting American taxpayers on the hook for publicly paid education for those who’ve never lifted a finger in their country’s service.
Democrats might think they’re going to court the masses by degrading military service like that, but they’re just giving Trump’s re-election more ammunition.
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