When Will Politicians Do Their Jobs?

The list shows members of Congress have forgotten what made this nation great.

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

That was from President Kennedy about sending a rocket to the moon but those words went far beyond that one hard mission. It struck at the core of what made American what we were intended to become.

"Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation."

That investment in the future led to 50 years, 50 giant leaps: How Nasa rocked our world because these inventions and discoveries benefited the entire planet.

"Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding."

That was back when members of Congress thought their job was to change things for the better not destroy destiny by surrendering to hopelessness.

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

Thomas A. Edison

For decades we've all heard members of Congress complain about the Department of Veterans Affairs. It seems that's all they want to do. They make these grand speeches about how much they care but the lack of care, lack of fulfilling their responsibility, lack of careful thought and ineptness to plan has produced more decades of needless suffering. They cannot envision a way to take care of those willing to die for this nation? How long do they get to avoid taking responsibility for the offices they hold and the trust placed upon their shoulders as they lead the Committees with jurisdiction over the Department of Veterans Affairs? How many VA Secretaries do they get to blame while it all gets worse?

More and more of them are saying it is time to give up on the VA and send veterans into for-profit care centers and some folks agree but they are not seeing what kind of message this sends to veterans. It tells them they are not worthy of the promise made to them so long ago.

With the words, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,” President Lincoln affirmed the government’s obligation to care for those injured during the war and to provide for the families of those who perished on the battlefield.

None of the problems reported are new. None of the wounds are new. The only new is that nothing has improved because members of Congress lack the vision to provide the best care possible to our veterans. They failed to plan for success and veterans have been suffering for it since the first House Committee of Veterans Affairs was seated in 1946. How many more years do they plan on letting veterans suffer instead of giving them the best care they paid for with their service to this nation?
But then again they didn't manage to do much for those still wearing the uniform.

In 2007 Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull covered what was going on over at Walter Reed when most Americans just figured the wounded had the best care in the world. Last year NBC and Dallas Morning News reported on more abuse of wounded in Warrior Transition Units. Congress yawned their response to change it but never once acknowledged how many years it had all gone on without them acting on behalf of the wounded to make sure they were all taken care of appropriately.


And while members of Congress once again try to explain why you should vote for them none of them have ever admitted why they never did anything to actually deserve the first one.

The WTUs were created in the wake of a 2007 scandal over substandard conditions at the old Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The units were set up at military posts across the country to help soldiers focus solely on getting the medical care they needed and either move back to active duty or obtain a discharge from military service.

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job.