I don’t know how to introduce today’s link about VA dysfunction except to say it has to be read. We get vague snippets on the issue from time to time, or we hear some 30,000 foot version of veterans’ VA stories with the repertorial coda, “We should do better.” But stories like today’s — from a veteran the system has failed multiple times — are the ones that ought to be front and center. The problem doesn’t need to be summarized. It needs to be personalized. And it needs to be addressed with more than just well-intentioned, empty promises.
If Republicans have a mandate — if any party has a mandate — it is to fix this. To quote a recent national survey conducted by The Rand Corporation, “From a discrete choice experiment, we find that Americans are willing to pay hundreds of dollars in additional taxes to provide assistance programs to either veterans or to all community members, and Americans are willing to pay significantly more for certain programs for veterans.” When the rubber meets the road and those taxes are proposed, maybe that support will dissipate. But something has to be done. The dysfunction is real, it pervades, and it does so at the expense of those who deserve not just a day a year of being honored, but a lifetime of tangible, productive, and lasting support for their sacrifices.