The "Dark Cloud" of Domestic Imperialism Hangs Over Our Soldiers: Eliminating, Then Privatizing The VA

The handwriting is on the wall! The Bush administration doesn’t want to maintain the VA as a government agency and is pushing to dismantle it.

It is interesting to note that the VA works so very well it’s been used frequently as the example to institute a national healthcare program, which is an issue sidestepped and hated by most Republicans.

One of the problems inherent in the VA system is under-funding of taxpayer dollars to do the job adequately and also the governmental and bureaucratic politics that appear to dictate every cornerstone of the system.

The VA has many individual and group success stories. According to Larry Scott’s Sept. 29, 2005, commentary printed on entitled Dismantling VA:

"In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina we learned that VA was the ONLY healthcare organization that managed to save ALL patient records. This is because VA uses a computerized system that was backed-up on a regional level and put back online in a matter of hours. Now that system is under attack by Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs . Rep. Buyer wants to eliminate regional control of the system under the guise of saving money."

However, the VA is a part of big government. While the Bush administration sees no problem in its ongoing invasion into the every day lives and activities of the American people, it wants to cut-down dramatically the tax dollars paid into various social and economic programs that benefit the masses who need them. The VA now is one such target for eradication and privatization as it continues under government auspices, as is our Social Security Program.

Ideally, the Bush administration looks at the VA as a private sector function — and why not? It is another ripe plum for an administration whose wealthy special interests rule and whose major insatiable objective is to acquire an endless stream of profits. Millions, perhaps billions, may be made by privatizing the VA. Rightly so, Veterans groups are enraged and frightened by this overt and very possible hostile takeover by the current administration and its corporate special interests.

In September of 2005 a move occurred towards privatization when the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs approved S. 1182 (Sec. 10), which takes tax money from VA’s healthcare budget to study outsourcing jobs of VA healthcare workers. The study, with VA healthcare funds going to private consultants, could cost well over $160 million and may lead to the loss of up to 40,000 VA jobs. Most Democrats voted against it, but it was approved by the [then] GOP majority and is a current study.

Dismantling and privatizing VA is a big job, but the administration and the corporate sector are trying to sell the idea to the public.

The VA is an integral lifeline for all Veterans of past and current wars and of multi-service eras. The Bush administration, with no problem providing "Corporate Welfare" to its own special interests, abhors the function and status of the VA by viewing it as another form of mass social welfare. The attacks by the administration on the VA and veterans’ benefits will continue. The majority of service organizations know it, yet all they do is go before a committee and testify that veterans are good people and deserve their benefits, while in actuality, their dues-paying members are waiting months for treatment at a VA facility or getting no treatment at all due to the ongoing cutbacks of tax funding, personnel, equipment and pharmaceuticals, and ongoing special interest power-plays.

Eliminating the VA in favor of privatization is a major priority of the Bush administration, right along with the privatization of Social Security. It appears that the government will stop at nothing to pursue ever-greater profiteering.

Once again, it hinges upon our nation’s loyalty and self-respect to our Veterans, who are heroes being cast aside by a greedy government and corporate regime. American citizens with a conscious for doing the right thing, along with those Veterans needing the system, must pound-down the doors of the Bush administration and demand that the VA remain under the rubric of government. To enable privatization of the VA will ensure that to most Veterans needing the system it will become unaffordable, much as the current healthcare insurance system is unaffordable for most Americans. It may be an endless battle to keep the VA free of the pending corporate takeover.