One hardly knows where to begin to respond to Archie Richards’s letter of May 27, arguing for the abolishment of the VA.
While the letter is long on opinions, it is short on facts, other than statistics showing the number of federal employees in three different agencies.
The writer argues that the VA should be abolished because it does more harm than good. However, his contention that people entering the military at one time (no year is specified) were better educated, healthier, more law-abiding and had a stronger family structures are not supported by any facts. And when they came out of the service (again, no time is referenced), they suffered higher rates of substance abuse, suicide and something he calls “intentional unemployment.” Again, where is the evidence to back up this claim?
Furthermore, he claims the VA budget has grown five times since 2001. I would ask him to look at his own home budget back in 2001 and compare it to what it is now. As a point of reference, the average price of a home in New Hampshire in 1998 was $127,500; in 2018 it was $282,500, according to the N.H. Association of Realtors. Of course, the VA budget increased over 18 years. What hasn’t?
And the writer concludes with the unsubstantiated claim that the American health care system is a mess because we have VA hospitals to help veterans with medical issues. His solution is for veterans to pay for government-sponsored private insurance with copays.
If the writer wants to convince us that the VA needs to be abolished, he needs to come to the table with evidence and not just unsupported generalizations.
CHUCK ANNAL
Concord