Shame on Us

On reading an article on Eric Shinseki, a retired four-star general and now secretary of Veteran Affairs, I was puzzled and saddened to learn of Mr. Shinseki’s history. Obviously, the guy is no slacker and certainly not immune to pain and suffering. From what was presented in the article, he appears to be a caring, thoughtful leader. Yet no humane person would ever treat a soldier who defended his country like so many American vets needing crucial medical care have been treated. So, one has to ask, how did this disgrace in VA hospitals happen? And who in God’s name is going to do the soul searching required to clean it up, rather than collapsing into the ongoing status quo of finger pointing? Why are we, the American public, not demanding that our leaders take responsibility?

The problems at the VA have been known for a long time, yet we still have vets dying because they have been placed on over-a-year-long waiting lists. So don’t we all have to ask, where have Congress (especially senators) and the president been?

Don Imus, ex-marine and host of his popular radio show ‘Imus in the Morning,” was enraged by the care American vets were receiving, especially during the Iraq war. Click here for an interview in 2007 with Senator John McCain, and ask yourself, who, seven years later, is being bamboozled?

In 2008, then-senator Barack Obama, pointing to what was going on at the VA under President Bush, called it an “outrage” and that “we are all dishonored.” Then why, as Deroy Murdock asks in NRO, can veterans not be liberated from the VA’s “abuse, toxic neglect and likely criminal neglect” and be given the same health insurance as members of Congress?

Perhaps it is not our politicians who are the disgrace, but we, the voters, who continue to allow these scandals without demanding accountability and recourse from the politicians we elect as stewards of our county.

The shame, unfortunately, seems to be squarely on us.