Monday, May 26, 2014

A Peek Behind the Curtain: A Two Party Farce in One Act


A Peek Behind the Curtain: A Two Party Farce in One Act
P. Schultz
May 26, 2014

            Below is a link to an article in Politico dealing with the scandal involving the Veterans’ Administration and especially VA hospitals. Here are a couple of paragraphs from that article: 

Unlike in October, when Republicans focused their message on calling for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to be fired, they’ve gone broader now, saying this is about more than VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, whom most have avoided calling on to resign or be fired.
This, they say, is much, much bigger: The phrase that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his colleagues have been emphasizing is “systemic failure.”

            Now, don’t be fooled by the language here, that the Republicans have “gone broader now, saying this is about more than VA Secretary Eric Shinseki….” What this means is that the Republicans, for reasons not specified, don’t want to focus on the VA and the scandalous activities that have been taking place at their hospitals. Hence, they “have avoided calling on [Shinseki] to resign or be fired.” This is classic redirection and the question, not addressed by Politico or anyone else I have read, is, Why? 

            I am not at all sure but I will hazard the guess that this is because both the Republicans and Democrats have no intention of actually working to solve these problems or to reform the VA. Hence, even a dissenter with the credentials of Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, has said that "by and large, the quality that veterans receive in this country is good to excellent." And this quote appeared in an article entitled “Miller: VA Scandal ‘Much Larger’ Than Shinseki,” which also appeared in Politico, referring to the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Jeff Miller (R-Fla). 

            Of course, those being “served” by the VA know that this is all just part of an effort to avoid dealing with this issue. These veterans know, in other words, that even those who claim to care most for our military are willing to screw them over once again when they leave military service. And no one with any power objects. But then why should we be surprised? 


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