With Veterans Day 2013 just past I thought it might be of
interest to readers of the following facts:
“43% of veterans are
receiving food stamps.
As many as 35% of Iraq
55% of veterans with severe housing cost
burdens fall below the poverty level.
33% of the male homeless population is
veterans.”
~Anonymous
Pretty gloomy set of statistics. People who served us are
hurting big time. Doesn't seem fair to me. It might help to understand these
circumstances when we consider many veterans return to civilian life with
psychological scars. PTSD is only one of the scars. Deep psychoses and neuroses
are additional scars. Careers are often stunted by emotional issues carried
over from the trauma of military service.
That’s why this next quote seems on the mark:
“Height of Hypocrisy: Any member
of congress who would dare speak at a Veterans Day ceremony after having voted
to cut food stamps for US veterans and the families of those serving in our
armed forces.”
~http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll256
Hypocrisy indeed! Add to that the spotty record of Congress
properly funding the Veterans Administration, both in medical care and benefits.
During my lifetime I have witnessed reductions in veterans’ benefits and
scandalous treatment at VA medical centers. The latter I believe has been
resolved to the benefit of current and future veterans. Of course past veterans
who were under-served remain in our dark history.
Fairness. Justice. These are uniquely American concepts to
most of us. We believe we excel at both. Yet history readily disputes such
assumptions. We can only hope our trust will be fulfilled in Congress to
deliver well-earned benefits by our veterans and their families.
On a similar note Bernie Sanders, Independent Senator from Vermont reminds us:
“76%
of the American people do not want to cut Social Security benefits at all.”
And reasons why are plentiful: first, the Social Security
system is a contract with the American citizen; they pay the premiums to
support the program; the program is revised to ensure financial resources are
adequate to fulfill the promises; breaking those promises is both unfair and
unjust. Second, most of us will rely on these benefits significantly to support
us in our old age. Whether each of us properly saves and invests for the long
term is irrelevant; the fact remains that bad things happen in a market economy
and good planning can be destroyed easily. Third, financial planning assumes
some rock hard facts; SSI is one of them. Fourth, elder citizens have no time
to recover from serious financial crises. That’s part of what makes any talk of
cutting SSI as unjust and unfair. It is simply un-American.
Yet the decision makers are politicians in the House of
Representatives of the US Congress. They have many interests to satisfy:
lobbyists, industries, home state power brokers, voting blocs in various
communities, and of course, the party bosses regionally and nationally. Thomas
Sowell has this to say about that:
“It is hard to imagine a more
stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those
decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”
I've made similar points before. Hopefully you will take
that as a badge of consistency rather than repetitiveness!
I love my country but I am not blind to her problems. I want
the best for the nation and for its people. All people, not just those upon who
fortune shines bright! We all deserve fair treatment and opportunity. And for
those with serious short falls in health and wealth, they deserve care and
nurture.
All of our religious traditions tell us to believe in
justice and fairness. America
is one of the truly great carriers of this tradition in the world. We are blessed by this. But we must remember
to live the traditions as well.
November 19, 2013
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