Veterans Still Face Numerous Obstacles

One of the issues candidates running for local, statewide or national office like to champion is support for veterans.

Promises made on the campaign trail, however, often don’t see results once those candidates are in office. The VA hospital system continues to be not up to par and it’s not necessarily because of those working there. You can only stretch certain things such as staff and funding so far.

So in the end veterans continue to go without the care they need, both physical and mental. It’s a continuous blight on our country that has been going on much longer than any of us have been alive.

In the 2016 primary and general election President Trump campaigned on helping veterans. During the 2016 Republican primary, in fact, he even made a seven-figure donation to providing assistance for veterans.

One veteran I spoke to recently said things have been improved some.

“I guess we should be thankful things aren’t worse,” he told me.

Another veteran said recently it’s really the same overall when dealing with the VA.

“It’s such a large mess that no one president would ever be able to fix it completely,” said a former classmate of mine who has served several tours overseas, often in combat zones.

The number of veterans with PTSD is at an all-time high. Suicide rates among veterans are shocking. Many end up homeless if they don’t have the proper family support. That will continue as our country, since the early 1990s, has been involved in wars that seemingly have no end. That means more returning servicemen and servicewomen are going to need medical as well as emotional care.

Waits for doctors within the VA system are still too long but veterans are able to seek assistance at other medical locations.

Campaign talk is always cheap. The real story should be what is done when a candidate gets elected. Did he or she keep their promises or were they just giving shallow talk?

We need to continue to stress to our elected officials (and those campaigning for office) that action is more important than talk when it comes to our veterans. Until then we continue to disrespect all those who paid such a high price so we could live in the greatest country on this planet.

Many advocate free health care for life for all veterans, whether they served in combat or not. If we can afford to send our servicemen and women into combat then we can afford to help them for what they have sacrificed.

Presidential Candidate

Michigan congressman Justin Amash recently announced he is seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for president.

A former Republican who turned independent, Amash has been critical of President Trump and as a result has certainly gained some enemies within GOP circles. Amash has always cast his votes in Congress based 100 percent on the Constitution.

Many Libertarians are supporting the candidacy by the Michigan resident. Chances are he will get the nomination although there are an extremely high number of candidates running.

There is always speculation about whether Libertarian candidates hurt Republicans or Democrats more. It’s that way with all third-party candidates. Some Democrats still blame Ralph Nadar for costing them the 2000 presidential election. When the election is as close as the 2000 contest was then every vote does truly matter.

The Libertarians will select their presidential candidate at their upcoming (virtual) convention. Amash could very well be a factor in Michigan which is one of the few toss-up states.

Georgia resident John Monds, who has run for Governor and the Public Service Commission, is also seeking the nomination. Monds became the first Libertarian statewide candidate in Georgia to receive more than a million votes when he ran for PSC several years back.

Monticello native Chris Bridges has been a community newspaper journalist for three decades. He welcomes feedback about this column at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.