To Gov. Howard Dean, MD, Chairman of the DNC

As a lifelong Democrat I am disgusted and disheartened by the fact that “our” party publicly claims to support the military and veterans while ignoring our individual voices. Diane Feinstein's staff, by their generic non-response that failed to address the specific issues about which I'd written, proved to be as much insincere lip-service as I receive from Wally Herger (R-CA2) in whose district it is my great and horrid misfortune to reside.

I’m tired of writing to those who “represent” me/us to only be ignored or receive a form letter that responds with “Oranges” when the question I had posed was “What is 2 plus 2?”

We, the military and veterans, are not talking points. We are not political ammunition. We are not inanimate objects like the Lincoln Memorial to gather about for a photo-op. And we are not all blind, deaf fools who fall for insincere speeches and promises made by those wrapped in flags yet have given nothing to this country. We are human beings, citizens of this nation, who volunteered to serve in the military to then only become non-entities. We have been abused by this administration, its party, and the military in which we served as well as by the VA which is charged with caring for us after we have been expended, injured, wounded and/or maimed in service. Those who patronize us only further alienate themselves from us and erode our support.

I have lost all faith in the Democratic Party because I can only believe, based on personal experiences, that the party is as void of compassion and as insincere as the Republicans who expend and then abandon those who serve.

If this email is met with the same indifference as demonstrated by the previous silence I’ve experienced then I will know without a doubt that we, as veterans, are nothing but pawns for political purposes to only be later dismissed when, as in our service, we have served our purpose and are of no further value regardless our personal costs.

21-50 - out.