The veterans of America, their benefits, and services should not be a political football. Congressional and administration action must be swift and effective. But that may be a lot to expect from our national government these days.
It is time for Democrats and Republicans alike to work swiftly to correct the longstanding and systemic failures, corruption, and inadequate service being experienced by American veterans of all ages.
This is especially true of those veterans wounded at the point of a rifle, a booby trap, or an exploding LED. The wounds of war must be addressed quickly and effectively, and these veterans should neither be neglected nor dismissed.
The establishment of quotas by executives in the Veterans Administration has tragically led to record falsification and greed. Administrators seeking to meet such quotas fudged their appointment numbers and asked other VA employees to lie and cover up. Not acceptable. Quotas have no place in a system dedicated to healing the wounds of war.
From the Civil War to the current fighting in Afghanistan, the United States has recognized its obligations to the veterans of many conflicts, both near and far President Abraham Lincoln laid down the marker for caring for American veterans in his Gettysburg address when he said, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
American veterans have continued to carry on the noble work of protecting freedom and democracy. And some 150 years after the Civil War, it is reprehensible that the United States government would allow there to be a wait list of over 57,000 medical appointments.
This travesty cannot be allowed to continue to exist. Simply forcing the resignation of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs will not cure this disaster.
It is time to thoroughly examine this situation and perhaps to take a serious look at many agencies of our government, which have over the years become bloated, greedy, and significantly ineffective.
The United States government can change; it simply takes leadership, courage, honesty, and guts.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.