RAP, ET AL.: I would argue that the VA is not “socialized medicine”, not in the sense that we generally mean it, and certainly not in the sense that is now undergoing national debate. It is a service provided to those that have given much of themselves.
It is not viewed as some sort of ctizen birthright, and is handled through the infrastructure of the Military. The VA’s core charter it to take care of combat verterns who incurred there disabilities in combat. The VA could not exist without the broader (and constitutionally sanctioned) mission of the armed forces, nor could the military perform that mission if it did not take care of its own. To not care for the fallen would be in fact a deep immorality repugnant to all decent Americans. This is hardly the same thing that the Democrats are pushing,
This might help claify things:
http://www.workworld.org/wwwebhelp/veterans_affairs_va_benefits_health_care.htm
It is not true that any person who wore a US uniform gets complete medical coverage. Far from it. Anyone that thinks otherwise is poorly informed. To, possessed of such ignorance, use the VA as some sort of talking point for socialized medicine is of questionable morality and decency. To willfully do so with full knowledge of the reality of the situation at the VA is to behave with the deepest immorality and indecency. It is an insult to those have have given much for the rest of us.
Terming it “specialized medicine” is really a specious argument for VA style treatment is most profoundly not what we are talking about in the national discussion about socializing our health care sector. Obviously, the nation must tend to the veterans who have served it. This is hardly “socialized” medicine in the sense of overarching government controls, mandates,fabricated “rights” and oppressive and draconian diktats to the citizen.
But at least RAP is being inadvertently honest here: He is a socialist. I imagine that this is the only sort of honesty he is capable of.
His analysis, however, is superficial, his “example” flawed and inappropriate, and his reasoning is specious; this is fairly typical of the Left and the Democrats, but it should not be tolerated.
This case is very much like the common error leftist make in calling organizations such as Police and Fire Department “socialist” because a polity agrees to fund them. This hardly makes them “socialist”. So to it is with the VA. This is merely a willful perversion of language, and to maintain these stances in the face of reason and knowledge is dishonorable.
