Calling all Members of Congress and the Senate!

First, let me congratulate you for having a “constituent services” office which provides no services despite its warm, fuzzy and misleading name. That’s the type of “representation” we’ve come to expect as it appears your staff can’t seem to be bothered as evidenced by the form letter I received. And kudos for crafting a sufficiently generic letter to be non-responsive to a broad range of unrelated topics while giving the illusion of concern. I would assume these are printed in bulk with your signatures.

Again, foolishly, I will attempt to reach you through this forum. Should these words not fall under your eyes, I sincerely hope that it publicly shames you, although there has yet to be any evidence to support that any of you can be shamed. In support of my position that you are indeed shameless, I offer this:

Each of you takes every opportunity to proclaim your support of our troops and veterans as well as your heartfelt concern for matters that affect them. Yet should one of them, a disabled veteran in my case, write to you, the “response” is via the aforementioned form letter or, simply, no response at all. The manner in which those folks in “constituent services” respond to the concerns of those whose misfortune it is to reside in your districts effectively communicates your thinly veiled contempt for the average American (to wit, those who don’t reek of money and, thusly, the ability to influence).

As to the matter about which I had written, it concerns a large number of service-disabled veterans. I had proposed a benefit that would cost no more than twenty-dollars per year, per qualified veteran, which would generate thousands of dollars from each qualified veteran for military morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) funds by giving these veterans access to those services as well as commissaries and exchanges. Perhaps my proposal flew under your radar, as it were, because of its simplicity, negligible costs and the fact it would actually “support our troops” while offering a tangible benefit to service-disabled veterans. Mea culpa but, hard as I tried, there was no way to make it extremely complex, outrageously expensive and serve but a select few who haven’t earned nor deserve a benefit.

I had also written to every member of the Armed Services Committees in the House and Senate. They used a slightly different form letter; one that, paraphrasing, simply stated, “You’re not from my district, you can’t vote for me and your letter contained no check for my re-election campaign”. At least that is my interpretation, but I do appreciate the fact that the committee members forwarded my letters to my representatives so that my proposal could receive their further, learned non-consideration.

With regard to the fact that I am not a constituent of any the committee members, I am a veteran and what actions, or, in this case, inactions, taken by the members affect me and the other 26,000,000 veterans. But boundaries exist for a reason; in this particular case they exist so that only veterans who are constituents can receive the same level of care, concern, respect and compassion from their representatives as I’ve received from mine, Wally Herger and Diane Feinstein. A Republican and a Democrat respectively, yet both of whom, despite the great differences of their political ideologies, can agree on at least one point: veterans are deserving of their contempt.

A person of minimally functioning intelligence could only conclude that your support for those serving, who have served and/or those disabled by that service is, in the politest of terms, a steaming pile of bovine droppings reserved for cameras, microphones, veterans’ events, public appearances and other vote-pandering opportunities.

Every one of your constituents deserves a thoughtful response that actually addresses the concerns and suggestions they submit to you regardless of whether you agree with their positions or find merits in their proposals. To be deaf and blind to the average constituent or to whom your committees affect is not representative government.

Wishing you all a hastened transition to private life at the hands of angry voters,

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