Add to the list of potential casualties: government shutdown threatens veteran’s benefits

Among the multitude of Virginia’s citizens who have been, and may be, economically harmed by the latest Republican Party tantrum is that insignificant group of Virginians known as “veterans,” those individuals who served their country, a country that many Republicans in the U.S. seem hell-bent on destroying.

Instead of the certainty of receiving ‘socialist’ government benefits, veterans in Hampton Roads, Virginia in particular have grown concerned about the prospect of not receiving their government handouts. To tea party Republicans, I suppose these individuals are a bunch of paupers just like the so-called ‘welfare queens’ of America. Say it ain’t so, Papa Cruz!

According to Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, “without passage of appropriations soon, veterans won’t be paid their earned benefits on November 1.” According to Daily Press, there are 837,000 veterans in Virginia. Translation: almost a million veteran Virginians, a number of which are disabled in some form or another, won’t be able to cover all of their monthly expenses. But as the apparently widespread sentiment among the radical right in the Republican Party goes, you have to break a few eggs to get an omelet.

What some within the Republican Party have unfortunately forgotten, if they ever remembered, is that behind their grand scheme to set the country on a better economic footing, real people would be significantly hurt in very real ways, including Virginia’s and America’s veterans. To add insult to injury, it’s still unclear what the ultimate goal of the Republican Party’s behavior was in the first place. Defund ‘Obamacare,’ shoot down any attempts at raising the debt ceiling, bringing back Paula Abdul to prime-time TV? The end point remains murky.

While John Boehner and his group of merry-men (and women) continue to search for a way out of the noose they’ve put around their necks, thousands of veterans across Virginia anxiously await when and if a deal is reached to raise the debt ceiling. I can only imagine that this is not what many of these individuals thought their country would give them in return for their service.