Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 05/10/2004

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
“To move the world, we must first move ourselves,” Socrates said. That maxim applies to our republic. If “We the People” want to shape policies affecting our community, state and nation, then we must exercise our constitutional right to vote.

Informed voters and responsive office holders strengthen our republic by helping to ensure that, as President Lincoln said, “[a] government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” On the other hand, voter apathy and elected officials who substitute self-interest for the will of the people weaken our republic by fostering policies that do not reflect our values. With this contrast in mind, the men and women of The American Legion will launch a program titled “Impact 2004” to facilitate a dialogue between voters in the military and veterans’ communities and the major-party candidates for federal offices.

On Armed Forces Day, May 15, The American Legion will officially activate its election Web site: www.impact04.legion.org. Sarge, I invite your readers to visit the site as soon as it is activated to select issues that they want both President George W. Bush and the incipient Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry, to address. Responses from the campaigns will be posted later so voters - especially those in the veteran, active-duty, Guard and Reserve communities - may use that information to cast an informed vote.

The American Legion neither endorses candidates nor takes sides in the elections. Our function here is to serve the compelling interests of a precious segment: those who sacrificed - and those who continue to sacrifice - for freedom.

Veterans have a lot of questions on their minds as we enter the home stretch to upcoming congressional and presidential elections. Why, in time of war, does the administration’s VA health care budget have such a meager increase that does not keep up with inflation? Why are thousands of veterans, who earn as little as $25,000 a year, considered too affluent to receive the VA health care benefit they earned by their honorable military service? When are we going to eliminate an unjust 20 percent cut in the annuities of Survivor Benefit Plan recipients who turn 62? Why are most service-disabled military retirees still paying an unjust tax on their retired pay? Why is the military so undermanned that some Guard and Reserve service members are driven to the brink of financial ruin by too frequent and too lengthy deployments? Why is the U.S. flag, which is good enough to drape the coffins of our honored dead, not protected from physical desecration by the law of the land? Why does it seem veterans’ issues are important to politicians only during the campaign season? Ideally, “Impact 2004” will help our comrades get the answers they deserve.

The “Impact 2004” Web site also will include links to voter resources, including information for military personnel seeking to register to vote - and to receive their absentee ballots in a timely manner. We do not want a repeat of “The Florida Debacle” when election officials invalidated overseas service members’ absentee ballots.

To further educate and energize voters, The American Legion Magazine will dedicate its entire September edition to the election, ideally including Q&As with the major-party presidential candidates and commentaries from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on each respective party’s congressional merits.

Candidates for federal offices will debate many issues, Sarge. We want to ensure they address the veterans and military community’s concerns.

JOHN BRIEDEN
National Commander
The American Legion
Washington

Dear Commander,
John McHugh (R-NY), chair of the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee has been very helpful in bird-dogging the Department of Defense and the U.S. Postal service seeking the confirmation of military absentee ballots. As he recently stated

“… The Subcommittee turns its attention to an issue of great importance to the men and women serving in uniform-their right to vote.

“The narrow margin of victory during the Presidential election of 2000 catapulted military voters into the headlines. As the nation watched the counting of the final ballots in Florida, it became apparent that many of those ballots belonged to 176,000 active duty military members who were registered to vote in Florida.

“The importance of the absentee vote in a close election was not lost on military members and their families around the world. “Many of those military voters were angry. They felt they had been disenfranchised without good reason and cheated out of their vote.

Shaft Notes
The Sarge is once again looking forward to joining fellow members of the National Press Club at an upcoming Club luncheon honoring our nation’s veterans on May 28, this event will feature remarks by a very special guest: fellow veteran and esteemed actor and director Ossie Davis, whose late sister, Essie Davis Morgan, shared her skills as a long-time employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ossie will again be the Master of Ceremonies at this years Memorial Day extravaganza on the mall.

Ossie Davis has been working on the American stage and screen for nearly 50 years. He and his wife, actress Ruby Dee, are longstanding political activists who were highly visible during the height of the civil rights movement and continue to speak out at rallies for progressive and humanitarian causes. Davis along with his wife were most appropriately celebrated as “national treasures” when they received the National Medal of Arts in1995.

Anyone interested in attending the Press Club Luncheon should contact Pat Nelson at 202-662-7500

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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