By this author

williamgast@wesupportthevets.com

meet me in St Louis Mr. President July 24,2003                                 

The pressure is on July 18,2003

This week's progress May27,2003

Define Hypocrisy June 12,2003

where are they now? June 15,2003

Promises made, promises kept? June 2,2003

Letter from the National Coordinator, Editor                      June 2,2003

I find it a very interesting game-- this process called legislation and politics. From the time I was old enough to read I found history and civics fascinating. Raised in an environment that could be called “mid-western Hoosier” I was under the impression that anything not Republican was alien from another planet. College and the Korean war and events later opened my viewpoint extensively I would like to think. Most Americans would like to think that our legislators  make laws  and guide this nation by representation of  the will of the people. The people that elected to place these individuals in a position of responsibility and trust deserve nothing less.

 America is a democracy. The land of the free and the home of the brave. Somewhere in that statement, one would expect the words Chevrolet, apple pie and a quote about Mom  Democracy is defined as The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community..

Evidently these ideas, these standards, these principles of equality and justice for all change when some individuals are elected to office.  I’m referring to the practices we uncover every day working with  efforts to get the injustice of offset to retired pay corrected.

A “political football” as some describe the history of HR 303, must come to an end. The hypocrisy of saying  one thing  in public before the American people and doing another in the side committees of the House and the  White House must cease if this nation is to remain a united democracy.

Two weeks ago the President held a press conference in the rose garden of the White House. The conference was called to bring notice and for him to express his displeasure with the  Senate for not processing his nominees for the Justice Department faster. As I listened to the speech I could not believe that this is the same man that has blocked progress, obscured  and hidden the very existence of the HR303 legislative bill since he took office. A few of his words were as follows;

While senators stall and hold on to old grudges, American justice is suffering. Dockets are overcrowded, judges are overworked, and citizens are waiting too long for their cases to be heard. The regional appeals courts have a 12 percent vacancy rate. And filings in those courts have reached an all-time high, again last year. …”

“The bitterness and partisanship that have taken over the judicial confirmations process, also threaten judicial independence. Some senators have tried to force nominees to take positions on controversial issues before they even take the bench. This is contrary to the constitutional design of a separate and independent judicial branch”

How can a President that leaps at the photo opps  with troops, lands on carriers and speaks before graduating classes of new officers look into the faces of these people and then ask the speaker of the house to find a way to keep HR303 from being laid before him so he will not have to veto it?  Senators and Congressmen who vote billions to foreign countries and decry openly that benefits to veterans  are not  cost effective at this time. One Congressional representative actually told his constituent that he was not cosponsoring HR303 because “Our troops need the funds we would use for that to purchase ammunition and equipment”

It is time that the American public takes notice just who the veteran supporters are in this country. There is a growing wave of veteran organizations that are about to pull the covers back and expose who the true representatives of the people of this country really are. In polls online and in person, the public has expressed concern and disbelief and outrage that this country treats  veterans as they have in this process on HR303.

The actions of this coming week will show  who the true representatives of the American people are in our House and Senate. Those Representatives that cosponsored these bills and waved the flag will be taken to task if they do not follow true to their promises and sign the discharge petition and answer the floor vote in the Senate.

I’m still in the mindset that there are good people we have elected. Will they stand tall when the time comes to show cause? Maybe its my Midwestern attitude that  there are people that remember several times the government has called on its citizens to become soldiers and in turn veterans. I hope they also can remember that there is a debt  that comes as a price for freedom .Will promises made be Promises kept?

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