October 24, 2011 6:12 AM

Thank you for your service...now don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out

(Also published at Firedoglake)

WASHINGTON — The government’s promise of lifetime health care for the military’s men and women is suddenly a little less sacrosanct as Congress looks to slash trillion-dollar-plus deficits. Republicans and Democrats alike are signaling a willingness - unheard of at the height of two post-Sept. 11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - to make military retirees pay more for coverage. It’s a reflection of Washington’s newfound embrace of fiscal austerity and the Pentagon’s push to cut health care costs that have skyrocketed from $19 billion in 2001 to $53 billion.

I get it. Things are tough all over. Governmental entities all across the country are having to tighten their belts, do more with less, wring blood from turnips, and suffer all manner of other cheap cliches. Some in Congress would have us believe that America is broke, that we no longer have resources sufficient to keep the promises we’ve made, and so we must make the tough choices and go back on some of our commitments.

Except that this is a load of crap. America isn’t broke. Our willingness to do the right thing might be, but despite what so many insist, America is not broke. We’ve somehow managed to scrape together the pennies to fund two wars and extend tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, remember? NOW our leaders are insisting that we’re broke? NOW we have no choice but to consider cutting back on our commitments to those we’ve sent into harm’s way?

I realize that Congress is full of moral non-entities who fail to grasp things like honor and commitment. The closest most Congresscritters have come to combat is an August town hall meeting in their district. To them, war and those who have fought them and suffered the consequences are probably just abstract concepts, another item on the federal balance sheet they can cut without consequence.

I’ve opposed both wars, but we made the decision to go to war, which in my mind means that we have an expilicit moral obligation to those who’ve fought those wars. If we can send people into harm’s way, we should, indeed must, be willing to do whatever it takes to care for those who come back damaged, whether physically or emotionally. If our elected representatives can seriously think that cutting benefits to veterans is acceptable, then I’d submit that we’ve lost our moral compass. If we can afford to send our sons and daughters into combat, we must do so with a willingness to provide whatever level of care is necessary upon their return, and for however long it takes. If we can’t see our way clear to doing this, we have no business sending them to war.

Here’s a question that we should be asking of our elected representatives: how is it that you can extend tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, and yet we lack the resources to properly keep our real and implied promises to care for our veterans? If we have the money for tax cuts, then we have the money to care for those who’ve fought for us. Any less of a commit is immoral and reprehensible.

Memo to Congress: do the right thing. Lead, follow, or get the Hell out of the way. Our veterans deserve better than to be forced to sit by as the promises made to them are casually tossed aside because “America’s broke” and you consider those promises to be disposable. Isn’t it enough that we’ve already created our own “Vietnam generation” of broken bodies, broken minds, and broken families? Must insult also be added to injury?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on October 24, 2011 6:12 AM.

Panderocracy...or how to elevate propaganda to an art form was the previous entry in this blog.

I'm a Liberal...ergo, I must hate America. Right?? is the next entry in this blog.

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