That's an abridged version of the words uttered by the officer or NCO in charge of the burial detail to the surviving spouse or next of kin of an American warrior killed in action as they are handed the carefully folded flag that had covered the coffin. Many of us have witnessed the ceremony and sometimes heard those quiet words, our hearts heavy with shared grief, but grief not remotely equal to the loss being felt by the person accepting that national symbol of supreme sacrifice. It is a solemn ceremony, steeped in tradition, meant to demonstrate not just to the family of the fallen but to all observing citizens that we as a nation value our warriors.

Now, our Democrat Senate, with the aid of nine Republican senators has just passed legislation which denies the promise of the above referenced ceremony, that is, that we are in fact a grateful nation. Looking for ways to cut the national budget, an ungrateful congressional conference has targeted our military community for reductions in their retirements while maintaining billions of dollars of support for far less worthy federal programs such as one providing federal assistance to illegal aliens. Yes, that's right, this Democrat senate is willing to put constraints on pension benefits for those Americans who have served honorably, all while maintaining welfare for those who have entered our country illegally. The Democrats choose to reward those who have no regard for the system of laws growing out of our constitution, the same document our military personnel all must swear an oath to uphold, even at the cost of their lives.

I suspect that even some liberals will acknowledge the inherent unfairness of this particular legislation. After all, even leftists need a viable military to defend their cockamamie concepts of governance. The largest leftist regimes like the Soviet Union and Red China, in point of fact, have always showered awards and honors on their military forces for the protections they provide. Few soldiers anywhere have more medals to wear than those who fought to preserve and expand communism. But not this country, the United States of America, that supposedly is the beacon of liberty. The hypocrisy, the irony, the tragedy of reducing the pensions of those who have served this country honorably to the benefit of those who are living in this country illegally, defies all logic and reality, which is exactly where the liberal left in this country has taken us since their Messiah took control five years ago. We are in Alice's Wonderland and descending into a dystopian society where wrong is right and down is up is government policy.

Once again, those who have served in the nation's conflicts, many of whom are inclined to vote conservative and Republican, are being sacrificed by the ungrateful, leftist Democrat party in order to incubate and cultivate a few million additional Democrat voters. The corruption of the Democrat party is complete. They look at those hordes crossing our borders and say:

"Please accept this flag and all the benefits life under it confers on behalf of a grateful Democrat party," while at the same time saying, "Veterans, soldiers and those who've served, you will accept this pay cut because you are not important to us as a sympathetic voting bloc."

Grateful nation? Certainly not when liberal Democrats control our government.