The only thing our political leaders have learned about war is not how to avoid them, but making certain they never again suffer a national conscription, or draft.

Vietnam taught politicians the PR challenges of holding a fine war with a draft in place:  All of a sudden, everyone and his brother had some real skin in the game, with so broad a population base up for grabs as cannon fodder.

Today, politicians think nothing of narrowing their gun sights, and sharpening the burden to a fine point -- one supported by very few backs.  With a more-or-less volunteer force, you just demand the same small group returns to the battlefield over and over and over -- while promising to look into the puzzling reasons soldier suicides have skyrocketed.

Republicans have a real flair for being stupid, ignorant jerks -- and being proud of it.

If they weren't so tragically repugnant and repellently lethal to intelligent and sensitive thought and feeling, it might be suggested they were being kept around as humor relief -- a little something to help the adults take the edge off a hard day of dealing with facts and reality.

Not that many Democrats -- most notably Blue Dogs, perched to the right of Atilla the Hun and Count Dracula in the woeful lurch far, far right in this country -- are not themselves a lost cause for hope.  Within their group are plenty of spineless ditherers who couldn't corral a single, thoughtful decision amongst themselves even if that meant a simple vote to escape a burning building.

And, yes, the entire country in this 21st century is very much like a building set alarming ablaze -- with Republicans trying to hide the gas cans and matches behind their backs, along with somehow hiding their innocent-angel grins as well.

Sometimes, bullet points arrive on lists dressed to the nines, in full metal jackets, but hit home so hard, you'd swear those talking points were all being done by hollow points, and worse.

Or so you might think -- for people who still do, from time to time, think.

Sample clips of this ammunition:

*** The Romney tax plan flow chart, simplified for dummies:  If you earn more that $200,000, your taxes go down;  if you earn less than $200,000, your taxes go up.

You'd think that would be it, right there, show over -- but, no go:  we've blown through half a billion dollars in ad shouts and we're nowhere close to the media carpet-bombing that will signal the end-time in this eternal election cycle.  Makes you wonder what else could be done with this money, than shove around lies, bald lies, and partial truths.

Roughly 77 years ago, a move was made to help all Americans -- help especially to those who were older, unlucky, unfortunate, and underage, find a little optimism in their thin soup.

August 14, 1935:  President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law.  It has become one of the country's most successful insurance and retirement programs.

No matter what Republicans might say, these are not entitlements because people have paid premiums into the system, just as they would any other insurance or retirement program.

Entitlements are more accurately defined as the unquestioned belief of elite One Percenters that only they should benefit from this country's vast wealth, the rock-solid presumption and world view only they deserve to do so.