Creating voting Block of Active-Duty Military and Veterans

by Ed Mattson

Wednesday I brought up the subject of creating a single-source website for veterans and active-duty military personnel, which would be ready in time for the next major election in November 2012. The purpose of the website would be to create a go-to information source where veterans and active duty military can become informed voters about national as well as state and even local issues.

Why is such a website important? For those who have heard the rumblings in Washington DC about the budget deficit reduction talks headed by Vice President Biden, it should scare the pants off all veterans and active duty military personnel. I am not denying our nation isn’t is a world of hurt over the huge national debt, or that our inattentive politicians (of both parties) have been on a drunken and reckless spending binge for decades handing out our hard-earned tax dollars for every sorry program they could dream up, but the day of reckoning is upon us.

As Adm. Mike Mullen put it, “with the military budget, everything is on the table”. That should scare the bejesus out of anyone who is now or has ever donned the uniform of the US military. The United States spends 43% of the total global military expenditures, some $665 billion dollars of taxpayer money. We are the world’s policeman. Approximately $132 billion goes to the Veteran’s Administration to cover the benefits and costs to administer veteran’s programs. These are prime targets for the nearsighted politicians wielding the budget-cutting axe.

Nobody can deny there is waste in any budget of this magnitude. Can anyone name one defense contractor that has brought a project in UNDER projected budget? Yet most everyone knows of projects that end-up way over budget and some projects that were canned before being implemented. The history of oversight at DOD has not been exactly stellar. Eyeballing veteran’s benefits and current military pay, should be kept well out of reach of the political axe man, yet any one with a modicum of intelligence knows this is a battle we cannot win without a concerted effort on behalf of all those with a stake in the game . That’s us.

The last Presidential election saw 131 million citizens come out to vote with the most diverse numbers in history. 15.7 million of the voters were Black, 9.7 million were Hispanic, 3.3 million were Asian, and about 4.5 million Jews, so it is safe to say those groups with special interests comprise a fairly large block voters. The “military vote” however, would dwarf all these groups if we can speak with one voice. Our concerns need to focus on benefits we have earned. We are not looking for a hand-out or seeking some special treatment because of an ethnicity issue.

70% of the 23 million veterans voted, however, I am sure, like all voters, many simply go through the motion of voting without really studying the candidates and issues, or how their vote might directly effect veteran’s issues. Rarely do voters really study the candidates. Voters in general, seem to be swept up in what appears to be a “popularity contest”, not an election based on facts and records. The nation is easily swayed by rhetoric, good looks, slick speeches, and promised hand-outs, which has taken the nation to the brink where 1/2 the nation is getting more entitlements than the money they are being taxed. I purposely use the word entitlements here, because veteran’s benefits are in a league by themselves. They are earned by our service and are seldom ever discussed by the candidates.

Americans as a whole want our veteran’s voices to be heard. They protect our freedom and the very right to vote. Our voice will not be heard if we don’t become the most educated of all the voters and defend our benefits with all the fervor with which we defended our nation. We must engage the candidate and get them on record as to where they stand on our issues.

We have bureaucrats instead of those with military backgrounds sitting in judgment of granting and denying disability benefits. That’s appalling to me. Appeals are heard by even more bureaucrats, and when it comes to getting a fair shake for many, it becomes a dog chasing its tail. Review and appeals need to be heard by military and/or veterans committees.

Occasionally records are lost. Any time we put people in charge of keeping track of records and files manually, we increase the probability of something going wrong. While computerization has improved things a lot over the years, the entire record system needs to be 100% automated with redundancy in place so records cannot disappear or vanish into thin air and we need a small Congressional oversight committee to absolutely insure justice is done when benefit cases come up for review.

And last but certainly not least, no benefit, once promised to veteran should ever be negated, but should be readily enhanced to compensate for the inflationary pressures perpetrated on the public by government regulations and policies which increase costs and devalue the dollar.

This is why we have begun work on a special website for veteran voter information that will be fair and balanced, but focused solely on our needs. More on this issue next time.

Ed Mattson

Following his service in the Marine Corps Ed Mattson built a diverse career in business in both sales/marketing and management. He is a medical research specialist and published author. His latest book is Down on Main Street: Searching for American Exceptionalism

Ed is currently Development Director of the National Guard Bureau of International Affairs-State Partnership Program, Fundraising Coordinator for the Warrior2Citizen Project, and Managing Partner of Center-Point Consultants in North Carolina.

Mr. Mattson is a noted speaker and has addressed more than 3000 audiences in 42 states and 5 foreign countries. He has been awarded the Order of the Sword by American Cancer Society, is a Rotarian Paul Harris Fellow and appeared on more than 15 radio and television talk-shows.