#Homes4VetsNotWall idea #LoveTrumpsHate

There are roughly 50,000 homeless Vets. (http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/651049)

The wall which has been purposed (not the Great Wall of China, not the Berlin Wall, but a wall from the Gulf of Mexico to California which a majority of United States citizens oppose) is estimated to cost $15 billion. (Http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/27/trumps-wall-could-cost-estimated-120-per-us-household.html)

What if houses for Veterans were built on that same wall-designed land? That's $300,000 per house. Or $200,000 a house and $100,000 cash to buy new clothing, go to school, furnish the house, get a car,  make investments, buy food, etc.

1900 miles. 50,000 homes. There would be .038 of a mile per house, or 200 feet. Homes are an average of 45 feet wide, so we're talking about houses 4 times the width of an average home with 20 feet of lawn between. (Maybe someone will add a grocery store every few miles or something. Strip mall. Whatever.)

Wait for the kicker...
Homeless Vets are all military trained personnel. We can pay these people to sit home and guard the border. Oh sure, some of them have gone round the bend. Some have gotten mixed up in various addictions. But now that they'd have better lives, perhaps the VA would have a better shot at rehabilitation.

It just seems like a better plan to try. I mean, if spending that much money on that 1900 miles of land is going to happen no matter what, how about trying to solve a second problem as well? If the Republican party can't be convinced that we'd be better served with stronger education and cultural influnce, at least try to help Vets while toying with the wall of hate.

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What left field did my mind pull this idea from? There was a meme I saw earlier today that confused me. It said something to the effect of it being easier to get protesters to the airport to support refugees than it is to get Americans to welcome home troops who fought the people who turned those folks into refugees in the first place.

My first thought was wondering when we stopped having and attending parades.

Then I wondered which social media outlet the military uses to publicly announce the exact time and place of returning troops. I mean, the protests, those were well organized by email, Twitter, Facebook, etc. People who cared were told when and where to show up. I think people would show up to welcome back troops, but I'm not sure that troop movement is announced. I'm also not sure the frequency of returns. Taking one or two personal days off of work to go to a protest can probably be arranged for many people, but if this is a daily occurrence, that's going to take a huge organizational effort. Obviously it can be done. But if someone is supposed to be doing it, they suck at their job.

I'm pretty sure the meme was pointing out how terrible the military whoever-is-in-charge-of-public-notice-of-returning-troops is at their job. Or was complaining that such an office doesn't exist. Or maybe the meme was angry that troops sometimes return to military bases and the public doesn't get invited.

"Other people had a gathering and it was well attended. Why don't troops get that?"

1- Parade organizers fail.
2- Military public notice failure.
3- Is that a potential target for enemies? Returning troops they didn't kill and a bunch of civilians who support those troops... Is there a reason we don't do this?

My point being that the meme seemed to offer up a solvable problem, or at least an issue that has a reason (public safety) why it isn't done. And since I could think of all of this in the same amount of time that it takes to make and share a meme, I started to wonder if there was a hidden agenda.

Perhaps... implying that Democrats do not care about Vets. Which, being a Democrat, I find offensive. And thus my idea.

#Homes4VetsNotWall

Sooo... which do you care about more? Homeless Vets getting housing and a job that might reduce immigration by way of the Mexico/America border by 25%, or a wall? Do you love Vets more than concrete?

I'm betting anti-wall people could use this argument.

(I don't actually think we need either. I think the real solution is for the countries with the most to help the countries that people flee from to be better. Something is broken. Instead of trying to turn a bigger blind eye, fix it. Get some smart people to figure out how to get it fixed. Toss out anyone who says "can't" instead of "how." It's a world problem, it needs a world solution. But since we don't have loud or wise enough leaders yet to get this done, I'm offering up a plan to stick it to people who are trying to make my people seem like villains for fighting injustice.)