During September of 2004, the VA hospital in Walla-Walla, WA had a total of 25 patients who had to wait up to 1-30 days and 1 patient who had to wait 30-60 days for medical treatment. As of this very moment there are 116 patients waiting 0-60 days and total of 49 who have already been waiting 120 days for treatment. An emergency bill allocating funds for the ongoing war on terror ignored this situation, and an amendment proposed that would have added 3 billion to the budgets of VA hospitals across the country currently operating in the red, was voted down by Republicans. The definition of an emergency being so cut and dry in our everyday life, in the political world of 2005 it is apparently much more difficult to define.
While there was an allocation within the bill for the construction of a new permanent prison facility in Guantanamo, the reality of even one veteran in our country having to wait four months to be seen by a doctor is disregarded. Just a few weeks ago this very same political party was crying out in anger over the removal of Mrs. Shiavo’s feeding tube. The idea of our need to promote a ‘culture of life’ was hammered consistently, but when the politics end and reality begins the deeds of GOP politicians fall miles short of their rhetoric.
This hypocrisy has been pointed out and mildly covered since last week, but the point we’re all looking past is that it’s not soldier health care the Republicans are against here. The soldier has less to do with it than does the ideology driving the majority party in their policy decisions. A soldier’s ‘expectation’ of quality treatment and attention in exchange for their service is what Republicans are against and have been for decades. Translated into political language, ‘expectation’ equals ‘entitlement’. Whether it’s a soldier, single mother, or senior citizen on a fixed income, the idea that any classification deserves an entitlement is what the Republican Party is against.
The fight over Social Security is more about the idea of entitlement than it is anything else. Solvency is the mushroom cloud of this political coup, but entitlement is the idea Republicans have worked hard to condition America to hate. A soldier’s entitlement is at issue here, and the GOP has stuck to their guns. Democrats need to seize this opportunity and instead of remaining predictable, get smart and discuss the core value that illuminates the difference between themselves and Republicans. Convincing America that Republicans don’t care about veterans is impossible, whereas correlating these issues will work across the board.
A gap exists in the discussion of all these issues in terms of the philosophy behind entitlement and whether or not it’s viable to have such a thing in our society. This discussion has not yet begun, but needs to take place. Republicans are insistent on characterizing Democrats as the party of big government and high taxes, yet they leave out the word entitlement for a specific reason. They don’t want to prompt the discussion and Democrats are too afraid to say the wrong thing. Meanwhile, a veteran in the state of Washington has been waiting four months for a medical appointment. This citizen feels entitled to better service.
Democrats must step up and first find these people, and second they need to make waves that are not bound to become ripples within a week. Take a page out of the GOP book and go over the top, and latch onto their own tagline of ‘No Catch Entitlements’. Argue why they’re necessary, and point out where our government is failing Americans. When Republicans respond with numbers of increased spending, point out that talk is cheap and start naming Americans who are being left behind.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Military, politics at 8:14 PM GMT+4
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Doesn’t the recruiting shortfall in this country indicate something about the mission? If every bumper sticker proclaiming ‘support’ for the troops equaled an enlistment, there wouldn’t be enough rifles to go around. Perhaps this is one of those unpleasant truths about this country. Our politics are loud and idealistic, but equal little more than carbon dioxide when it comes right down to it. While folks in the Middle East are strapping explosives to themselves to prove the conviction of their beliefs, we’re pretending to believe in a war for the sake of a team jersey our favorite politician happens to be wearing.
Listen to Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly or any of the other big-talkers beating the drum, and it would be hard to imagine that neither of them had ever come close to a foxhole. In fact, the majority of those deciding it’s time for our youth to die in some foreign land had plenty of opportunity to fight in Vietnam, but didn’t. Sometime between that war and today it became politically acceptable for leaders to go through their lives as warmongers and cowards at the same time without fear of being seen as hypocrites.
The children of a generation scarred by the tragedy and dishonesty of Vietnam have taken on this very facade. While voting for the party of preemptive war, they are counseling their children against joining that fight. Just as our leaders are able to have their cake and eat it too, so are the voters and their children. Only now the numbers aren’t adding up, and the supply of bodies is dwindling. Sure, there are a lot of bumper stickers, but most of them are applied by folks who merely want to pretend they’re something that they’re not.
With the poor deciding to take their chances in the economy now over the promise of celebrated slavery and medals, the fools who find themselves already in fatigues have their service time involuntarily extended. They’re sent into war multiple times over and should they survive, the cost of keeping themselves alive once it’s all said and done is rising by the year. That’s right. Those very same politicians who sat out the wars of their time, now feel it’s prudent to under-fund the medical benefits of veterans. The plan being, if they can’t pay for their medical care, they may die sooner. After all, who wants to be paying for a generation of crazies and cripples?
And so it goes this ridiculous cycle of American life. The veterans of this war who come out with all their limbs and marbles will be recruited in later years to help elect another politician who never went, and if need be, they’ll counter the claims of a brother or sister who says that the Iraq war was a mistake. The ‘Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’ will inspire a similar group to carry on the torch many years from now. A survivor of this war will be labeled a coward because of the political uniform they wear, and all for the sake of someone who was never there. They’ll get elected and try to start another war…and so on.
Chest pumping bumper stickers will be plentiful on the rocket cars of the future, and nary a day will pass without the horrible sound of that beating drum. Voices will echo as they do right now, and patriotism will remain a concept only in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps we’ll be less courageous then, and the very idea of pulling off such a thing as we’ve attempted in Iraq and Vietnam will be beyond comprehension. Maybe we’ll all remember what happened when the well ran dry and decide we’re better off minding our own business.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Military, politics at 1:47 PM GMT+4
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Was said by the recently fallen Pope to be threatened because of our war in Iraq.
If you’re watching the press conference of Scott McClellan (White House Press Secretary), he refers to the Pope and his belief in a ‘right to life’ about five times. Then he compares the Pope with President Bush along these lines. A reporter asks about the contradiction in this with Bush being pro-death penalty, and Scotty explains that he’s not there to talk about the differences.
So spinning the Pope’s death to coincide with a political movement you’re trying to get off the ground is alright, but pointing out a contradiction is of bad taste???
I’ve said it before…but McClellan is a robot…he’s got motor oil running through his veins. As soul-less of a being I’ve never seen in my life.
Republicans are spinning the Pope’s death to further their agenda, so watch out for it and blink twice when it happens…perhaps you’ll wake up to find it was all just a bad dream.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Religion, politics at 12:21 AM GMT+4
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