The Mystifying Misperception

...The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have raised our historical ineptitudes to a crisis level. The prevalence of traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder have left thousands of returning soldiers incapable of managing their own care. Further, dramatic improvements in emergency medicine have enabled wounded soldiers to survive what were once deadly wounds. We also remain a nation at war, the longest war in U.S. history. The combination of the above factors has inflicted an unprecedented strain on the resources available to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Unfortunately, the plight of the American veteran is not a new ticket item in electoral politics. Our political leaders have been called to step up and honor the promises made to our veterans for over ten years now. And the notion that the American veteran deserves better can -- and by now should -- be a bipartisan issue around which both sides of the aisle rally to action.

However, the Democratic and Republican parties have answered this call to duty with shockingly different levels of concern. One needs only examine the past two presidential administrations to highlight the stark differences...