by Reid Fitzsimons

USAA is a giant insurance and financial services corporation that caters primarily to the military and veterans. Indeed, it was founded 100 years ago by a group of military officers looking for a way to insure their automobiles considering their particular circumstance. As USAA grew, they became renown for their service to members, their integrity, and their sense of honor. They became the insurance and banking equivalent of the reliable, competent, and honest mechanic who you never have to question- if he says “this is what’s broken and this is what we need to do to fix it and it will cost this much,” you know he telling the truth.

Sadly, in the last few years USAA evolved its priorities from providing stellar services to members to become just like any other insurance and financial company: mass marketing, empty promises, emphasis on profits, marginal customer service, and the like. In early 2020 a new CEO was appointed, the first to have never been in the military, but rather had spent his adult life in the corporate world. As it happened, later in 2020 an event occurred that excited and titillated all manner of privileged white people: the killing of a restrained black criminal at the hands of a brutish police officer. Now rich white elites, which accurately describes the USAA CEO, could virtue signal and put on display how wonderful they are to their heart's content. Accordingly, the CEO of USAA sent a mass e-mail (admittedly, severely paraphrased!) saying, All our members are horrid racists, homophobes and all other kinds of phobes, but don’t worry, I am the enlightened one and if you vow allegiance to me and my fellow elites, you have a chance for salvation. Indeed, I am one of the bravest because I am willing to have ‘conversations’ about social justice and all that kind of thing!