In “The VA and the limits of liberalism” (Commentary, May 22), columnist Jonah Goldberg’s basic contention is that government is essentially incapable of handling society’s problems and intimates that we would be better off with a Department of Veterans Affairs run by the private sector.
That the VA has been mismanaged is without doubt. The real question remains, what do we do about it? Goldberg’s solution is clear: fundamentally abolish government and place everything in the magic hands of the marketplace.
Let’s look at the VA situation in that light. Has there been appalling mismanagement, verging on the criminal? Obviously! What has been the source of this mismanagement? Were the executives in charge merely incompetent, criminally negligent or just plain old-fashioned greedy?
I think if Goldberg were being honest and objective, he’d have to admit that human greed lies at the heart of the problem. Managers lied about their performance. They said they were taking care of veterans when, in fact, they were not.
Why were they engaged in such dishonesty? Greed, pure and simple. They lied so they could get their greedy little hands on performance bonuses. Would privatizing the VA eliminate such dishonesty? I doubt it.
Any real solution to the problem of the VA will not come from casting aspersions. Rather, it will come from people using the common sense God has given them, rolling up their collective sleeves and doing all in their power to see to it that such heinous actions never happen again!
— Joseph Paul Dorchack, Bolingbrook
