Maybe Gore would have continued his successors balanced budgets and surpluses ? No way in hell would Gore have went to war with Iraq,25,000 US soldiers wouldn't be dead and wounded,100,000 + Iraqis wouldn't be dead,A trillion dollars would not have been spent Gas would have stayed around 1.00 a gallon like it was under Clinton maybe because Gore is not a oil man ? Our National debt would not have more then doubled Republicans,the party of fiscal responsibility "The national debt quadrupled during the Reagan and Bush presidencies, declined slightly during the Clinton presidency, and more recently the debt doubled during the George W. Bush presidency"
I am the proud brother of a decorated and 100% disabled Iraqi war veteran, allow me to clarify the insult. For a President , the CinC, to allow some bean counter to try and have wounded warriors have any dealings regarding their medical needs with any organization other than the US government, which sent them into harms way in the first place, defies my ability to politely describe the insult. "Transfer the cost" may work for the Department of Fish and Birds, but not for men and women who have left pieces of themselves on the battlefield.
The VA is a socialistic enterprise, it takes from the individual via taxation and gives it away freely to the collective of veterans... No one made these people join the military to go and serve in the Iraq war, so why should we pay for their health care? They "earned" it? No, they got paid for the work they did, they volunteered to join the military...if they got hurt, that is what private insurance is for...right? Corporations could just as easily pay the soldiers more, and turn the army into a for profit corporation, offering them benefits just like corporations do, a retirement package, health insurance, and make the earn they money via their performance...if they are crappy soldiers, they get fired... After all, capitalism is a better motivator than national pride or patriotism, right? The klannish are in love with Blackwater, and its for profit corporate agenda...rationalizing everything they do in the name of capitalism...why not the military? Why have the military and the VA be socialistic? Especially when the military now is all volunteer...
Well that is certainly one way to look at it. If we were speaking of a desk jockey at the IRS or an adrenalin junkie at the ATF or even Joe the plumber, I would agree that society does not owe these individuals free health care, private insurance would be acceptable. Service in the military, whether by draft or volunteering, is a constitutional provision for the "collective" defence of the nation. The nation, and military tradition itself (which is an important ingredient to a well maintained and disciplined military), dictates that the wounded service members are maintained by the nation itself, not BlueCross. This is a cost that most would gladly pay on behalf of ones service to the nation, and a cost that has indeed been paid by this nation since the War of Independence. Oddly, I agree with your assertion that private enterprise does have a roll to play in some armed conflict and police actions. In those cases the individual would enter into a contractual agreement which if negotiated correctly would cover such items as healthcare.
If memory serves, when an individual enlists into the military, he/she signs a contract..... a contract with the Federal Government listing the duration and terms, part of which is health coverage. The idea of having a wounded person in the military pay their own medical costs is totally absurd on so many different levels. "On behalf of a grateful nation"
What I am saying is this thread is not truthful of what happened. No, Obama did not try to make veterans pay for their wounds. His intention was to have veterans who have a private insurance (already) to see if the war injurys can be paid from that. This thread try to make Obama seem heartless about veterans. After some people show Obama that to do that with private insurance could have a "unintended consequences" for veterans and family, then Obama did not do it. So I think his mistake only was of propose something like that before he understand the "unintended consequences" No one person know everything. But people use that mistake to create a monster of Obama for a political agenda. So who is more heartless, Obama to suggest a private insurance pay for veterans without understanding a "unintended consequences", or people who use veterans problems for their political agenda and create exaggeration and lies to veterans?
Looks like the OP is having a classic case of ET schizophrenia combined with not a very happy home life. His grandiose sense of self and ugly addiction to ET appears to rival online gambling... He criticizes the President for having a lack of integrity and morality. Yet, the OP has no problem "parading" around ET after having claimed to have said "Goodbye" after 10,000 posts... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160992 So much hate, anger, and bitterness. So little time. He's the ET version of the Brett Favre "fairwell" tour.