I think almost everyone knows about the troubles of the Veteran’s Administration so I won’t bother posting links to the stories.

Thursday is my stationary bike day at the gym and that means I get to watch the news. Normally the commentators confirm everything I hate about the modern blame-game that drives politics but today I saw something remarkable in conjunction with the VA scandal.

There were the usual talking heads for both sides but instead of completely blaming one another they were putting out little feelers that this wasn’t about blaming anyone but actually solving the tremendously difficult issues the VA faces. What, what, what? Solutions instead of blame? Am I dreaming about the Objectivist World I speak of so often? What is going on?

Then they started to show polls about who the people of the United States blame for the problem and all became clear. People are pretty evenly split on blame and largely don’t care, they just want the men and women who fought for this country to get adequate care.

What this means is important. Really, really important. Follow along now.

It means that if the people of the United States care more about solutions than blame, if they care more about getting a problem solved than having the members of their political party win an election, if they just want solutions, not scapegoats; well, suddenly politicians start talking about answers and stop blaming each other!

Holy expletive, batman!

We live in a huge country and a massively complex world. There are no easy solutions. There isn’t simply one way to do things and make it all better. Things are difficult and complicated. Fixing them takes a lot of hard work and requires working together with people who don’t always agree with us.

What’s easy is blaming the other side for everything that’s wrong. When politicians can win an election simply by blaming the other guy then they have no incentive to solve the real issues that face our country. When the people say, no, no, no, we want solutions. Only then will solutions come.

When politicians make outrageous claims about their evil opponent and win elections, why do you expect them to work hard to find a solution to any problem?

The simple way to get politicians to try to fix the problems of our country is to stop blaming the other side. When your Congressman or Senator blames the other side for all ills; withdraw your vote. Only then will they attempt the astonishing idea of trying to solve problems in order to get that vote back.

If you want real solutions to what is wrong with the VA, vote independent. Make the Republicans and Democrats work to get elected, don’t let them get by with a few maniacal rants about the evils of the other side. Don’t buy into their easy way out.

The power is in your hands.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Broken Throne
Next Release: The Black Sphere