Sounds like Randydaytona works for some part of the government...? This is a tough debate and though most would agree debating in a calm way without profanity or anger should be more productive, I also totally empathize with BigNuge. Like him, many citizens are simply angry; there are many reasons but if you have to simplify and say pick one; it might be the federal govt trying to centralize even more power in DC, in spite of their consistently demonstrated inability to run anything efficiently.
I had to pipe up now because respectfully Randy, if you're going to try to claim "the VA is a great organization", you're simply going to lose that argument across the board. there's just far too many stats and stories against you. Even Bob Dole tried and failed to fix the VA. However I do agree with you part of it is funding, and its hard to allocate enough funds to care for disabled soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country, when you're paying for nearly 50 million people to use food stamps to buy liquor or designer sunglasses, plus you're giving them Obama-phones... all of which is costing a lot of money.
As for the logic that "the majority of citizens must've wanted it...", there again is another reason people are angry, because its simply not true. More and more, the govt seems to do things like Obamacare when the majority of people clearly do not want it. BO did manage to energize enough young people to vote in 2012 but keep in mind these are people that get free phones and don't even know that Obamacare and the AHCA are one in the same; see
Kimmel
Like President Reagan once said: "Government isn't the solution to the problem, Government IS the problem."
How is the government trying to "centralize power?" Please explain that one, because other than most agencies being headquartered there (because...um...it's the capital city of our country), most
operations are run from the field. HQ is where the planning, budgeting, and implementing of the laws that our elected officials pass takes place, with
heavy input from the field (because you can't do that without knowing what's going on elsewhere). But the rest of the U.S. is where virtually all actions affecting U.S. citizens take place. You can't get much more
de-centralized than that.
I never said the VA was a "great organization." Read my post again, then try not to put words in my mouth. I said that given the scope of its mission and the challenges it has to deal with in pursuing that mission, the
people who work there do a pretty good job. If there's flawed
policy, that's because a majority of our citizenry voted either for or against it, via casting ballots for the elected representatives who approved it. You'd be surprised how many laws are passed which filter down to a government agency as "you now need to do it this way..." I don't see the logic in vilifying the folks who are following what gets filtered down to them. Also, the VA budget is not used to fund the food stamp program, the last time I checked. So if you have a problem with food stamps, that ire should be directed at the Department of Agriculture - different pot of money allocated to a different agency. Or better yet - at the people misusing the food stamps, maybe. But whatever Ag is doing with their money, it's normally approved by the elected officials when they approve the budget. If they do something that's
not approved, they usually hear about later.
Also, I'd love to hear how the actions which take place in our country are NOT the will of the majority. How is that "simply not true?" Are you trying to say Obama won the election simply because he gave out free phones and people voted for him solely for that reason? That's certainly what it looks like to me.
Or because he "energized" the young people? People vote for a candidate for whatever reason, and if that person turns out not to do the things they expected, too bad, so sad. That's politics.
It's ironic that you chose to end your post with a quote from a Ronald Reagan, a President who
promised to decrease the size of the federal government, but didn't. He actually
increased it, and more importantly nearly
tripled the national debt. And lets not forget - his administration decided that passing the Immigration and Nationality Act was a good idea (the 'real' amnesty; it's easy get rid of illegal immigrants when you make 'em all legal with the stroke of a pen).
In short, he was another empty suit telling the voters whatever they wanted to hear in order to get himself a seat (or in this case, the
highest seat) at the governing table. Any conservative
or democrat who thinks their guy or gal is
different is delusional. Maybe someday a new kind of leader will come along, but it hasn't happened yet.