When a handout just isn't enough

Every year, Sears does this Heroes at Home program, which is basically where they ask the nation to donate money, and then divide that money up into gift cards that are given to military families who register. They take a finite number of registrations, so some get in, and some don't. It used to be that it was only for pay grades E5 and below. Then a bunch of people raised hell over it, and last year, it was opened to all ranks. This received mixed reviews, of course. There is also some degree of stink raised every year because single soldiers are able to register, and people figure this should be restricted to those with families. As everyone knows, single soldiers have nothing to live for, nobody to buy gifts for, and nothing better to do than to fill in for their married counterparts on holiday duty. It all comes down to the fact that even though easily 75% of military people claim to be Republicans, they're nearly all Socialists or Communists in practice. They want everything for free because they need it more than the other guy.

The first year, the gift cards totaled like $300 per person. It was to the point that a lot of people just counted on getting the cards, and didn't even save up anything to Christmas shop for their kids on their own the following year, because they just figured they'd get hundreds of dollars in free holiday cash, and have no worries. The following year, the cards totaled about $150. Cue mass freak-out. This year, the cards were $55. Nobody can say enough about how much it sucks.

Dude... First of all, that's free money. You didn't work for it, or sell something to get it, or in any way whatsoever exchange goods or services for this money. It is like finding money on the street. Therefore, bitching about how much it is, kind of sucks. Like, seriously?

What's more, it is 100% based on donations. News flash, military folks! The rest of the country is in pretty bad shape financially. In fact, most of the people who donated to this thing probably make less money than you do. The fact that the general public still hasn't gotten the memo that the military is getting fat while the rest of the country starves, is the truly astounding part. If the truth about this stuff became common knowledge tomorrow, there would not be a program like this at all, because people would figure they're already helping military families enough through their tax dollars, which is pretty much the truth.

Basically, this program still exists this year. My bet is that it won't next year for two reasons. First, donations have steadily gone down every year. By next year, there won't be enough donations to make it worth the trouble of running the program. Then second, and at least as important, we have the fact that the military families have gotten so ugly about this program every year, acting like they're entitled to it, and when it's not as much as the previous year, flipping out about how it's not enough. If I were Sears, I would have stopped it a year ago. I do think they will stop it next year. Pretty much, just enjoy the free money while it lasts, because shockingly, they don't HAVE to do this.