Veteran's Day: Correcting The Shame of the VA

Today is the day that we honor our veterans who have served our country defending America and protecting our rights and liberties.

Our rights and liberties are under attack in the USA from within and without. While our military fights the physical enemy that seeks to destroy America, the citizens of the USA who value their freedoms must fight a war of ideas and propaganda in their schools, town halls, State and Federal government, and the media.

The veterans of our armed services need to be treated better also. Ever since our Republic was established, the veterans who fought the good fight have been neglected and the promise and duty we have to them has been ignored.

It's time that we step up to the plate as our military has done and make new efforts to take care of their medical, psychological, and rehabilitative needs. The short-changing has to stop!

The solution is for the Federal government to set up a fund that provides these soldiers with the care they need from the private sector. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must be abolished since it has proven woefully inadequate to care for the needs of the bravest and most deserving among us.

If there is any government agency that demonstrates the inadequacy of Federal bureaucracy in comparison to the proficiency of the private sector, the Department of Veterans Affairs is it. From bureaucratic waste to outright neglect of our veterans, the VA is an abomination and must be eradicated.

The scandal surrounding the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is just the tip of the iceberg; politics coupled with apathy has created a bloated vestigial structure that must be removed like an inflamed appendix (although you wouldn't want it removed by the VA!).

The measure of our gratitude for our veterans should not be parades, observances, or speeches. The greatest measure of our gratitude is seen in how we take care of those who have shown the courage and devotion to our country and are the "True Heroes" of our generation.

Write your senators and congressmen and demand that they rectify the deplorable way our government treats our veterans.