The Crisis Which Continues To Face Our Veterans

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

Promises made on the campaign trail, however, typically don’t see results once those candidates are in office. The Veterans Administration (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.

President Trump campaigned on helping veterans. During the 2016 Republican primary he even made a seven figure donation to providing assistance for veterans.

One veteran I know says things have been improved some. “I guess we should be thankful things aren’t worse,” he said.

Another veteran told me 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,” said a former classmate of mine who has served several tours overseas, often in combat zones.

A large field of Democratic candidates for president has talked about a lot of issues but the overall talk of giving our veterans the support and care they need is often not at the top of the list. Pete Buttigieg, Seth Moulton and Tulsi Gabbard have probably talked about veteran issues more than others and that’s understandable since they each served.

The number of veterans with PTSD is at an all-time high. 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 and emotional care.

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

Suicide continues to be the ultimate dilemma for veterans. That number, according to numerous reports, is also at a record high. It’s tragic is so many ways because veterans should never feel like they have no hope or have no one speaking up for them. Many veterans also face issues such as being homeless and that is often has a direct link to the PTSD they deal with.

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.

Iowa polling: A poll released July 3 shows Elizabeth Warren leading the Democratic Party field in Iowa at 20 percent. Kamala Harris has skyrocketed into second place at 18 percent followed by Joe Biden at 17 percent.

Bernie Sanders is now fourth at 12 percent with Pete Buttigieg at 10 percent. Amy Klobuchar (four percent) and Cory Booker (two percent) were the only other candidates above one percent.

Declaring Independence: Michigan congressman Justin Amash recently announced he is leaving the Republication Party and will be an independent moving forward.

Amash, who casts his votes based solely on the Constitution, has been critical of President Trump and as a result has certainly gained some enemies within GOP circle. Amash was facing a tough primary challenge from several candidates during his upcoming re-election bid.

The move by Amash may open the door for him to seek the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. Many Libertarians are supporting a candidacy by the Michigan congressman and Amash said in recent days he is considering a 2020 run for the White House.

During his announcement in leaving the GOP Amash talked of how our founding fathers warned of the dangers of political parties. Amash says he always casts his votes in Congress based on the Constitution and not political party.

Throwing his hat out of the ring: Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has decided to end his independent campaign for president in 2020.

While he did not say it was a factor, Schultz likely learned of the great difficulties facing independent presidential candidates in terms of getting on the ballot in all 50 states.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He has earned awards for his columns from the National Newspaper Association, the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Sports Writers Association. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.