Thank you For Your Service Robert Dole

The passing of Robert Dole is another reminder of the passing of the "greatest generation".  The textbooks have defined those folks as a generation shaped by the economic depression of the 1930's and the Second World War. The following is a quote from Senator Dole: "In politics honorable compromise is no sin. It is what protects us from absolutism and intolerance"'.

You might ask yourself what has happened to the sense of community that existed but now seems to be wavering at best.  I'm reminded of a scene from "Foyle's War" with Detective Foyle responding dryly about his prospects after the "War". "It depends on who wins".

Dole a college athlete left the University of Kansas to enlist like many others to fight for this country.  As Lt. in the army, he was severely injured in an artillery and aerial attack and spent over two years in a military hospital recovering and rehabilitating. Losing the use of his right hand while daunting did not deter the Russell, Kansas native from advocating for the rights of the disabled and Veterans Affairs and expanding the idea of food security by connecting the farm bill and the food stamp program which benefited both the rural and urban areas of the country.  

Go figure.  Two WWII Senators working together Dole and McGovern getting the Farm Bill of 1973 passed and into law with the signature of Richard Nixon.



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