ALPERN AT LARGE-This Memorial Day Weekend was one with both public and personal significance--the country was focused NOT on celebrity trivia but on its veterans, its role in the greater world community, and on a host of healthcare and mental health issues. My own weekend began with a bang, with my son's Boy Scout troop (Troop 110 of Beverly Hills and West LA) joining thousands of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sea Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies, Daisies and others to pay homage to our veterans with a massive flag-planting in the West LA VA Cemetery.
For years, I've seen my son and his fellow Scouts, from all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and from parents who have religious and political convictions from as diverse a background as any could dream of, become more and more adept at doing the job of honoring and remembering our fallen veterans. Each flag was placed with honor and decorum, and a beautiful ocean of tens of thousands of flags went up within minutes.
That evening, I joined liberal ACLU lawyer Michael Klein, conservative Politichicks writer Ann Marie Murrell and others on the Mark Isler Show where we had a passionate but cohesive debate on the Veterans Administration scandal, Obamacare and the role of both government and the private sector to get things done right.
Mark usually has an excellent balance of liberal and conservative commentators, and his late evening House Party usually gets the same results--debate, discussion and consensus. This group, however, was particularly cohesive despite coming from rather divergent political backgrounds ... maybe it was the Memorial Day spirit in each of us.
We are United in our ability to debate, discuss, and arrive at consensus because of the sacrifices of our fallen heroes--the issue of President Obama's knowledge of the VA problems since 2008 is no less troubling than the issue of our entire Congress knowing about the VA for years ... if not decades. Mark Isler, Mike Klein, Ann Marie Murrell and the other liberal and conservative guests all agreed--all political parties are guilty, and we need to fix this problem ASAP.
(And as a physician who was trained at two VA medical centers, in Richmond, VA and in Long Beach, CA, I'll let you in the same, most poorly-kept secret that exists about VA workers that all similarly-trained physicians know: that at our VA's there are some of the greatest, most supportive heroes who work tirelessly on behalf of our veterans ... and that there are also some of the most lazy, ill-behaved-but-protected miscreants that could ever be found in any health care system, let alone a system that should be our BEST system.)
We are United in our ability to debate, discuss, and arrive at consensus because of the sacrifices of our fallen heroes--the need for corporate reform AND union reform is paramount. Both the Occupy and the Tea Party Movements are fighting the same self-serving corporate elite (which is comprised of guilty parties of all political stripes), but must also fight public- and private-sector unions which have now become self-serving elites, too.
Those of us debating public-sector intransigence and private-sector worker exploitation on the Mark Isler Show easily coalesced in the need for both private-sector efficiency AND public-sector oversight, and that combined corporate/union reform would involve giving unions the financial incentive to be efficient, and would also involve replacing union leadership with those who would work with management to fire (and not protect) lousy workers.
We are United in our ability to debate, discuss, and arrive at consensus because of the sacrifices of our fallen heroes--the detachment of former President George W. Bush on issues ranging from the economy to Iraq is no less disturbing than the tired script of current President Barack H. Obama of "outrage" yet no action, as reported by Cathleen Decker of the LA Times.
We are United in our ability to debate, discuss, and arrive at consensus because of the sacrifices of our fallen heroes--our concerns of whether our President is campaigning more than leading are no less important than our concerns of whether our President--and our country--is the victim of obstructionism that is preventing our economy from moving forward.
We are United in our ability to debate, discuss, and arrive at consensus because of the sacrifices of our fallen heroes--whether it's the stimulus package, our long-term Mideast and Afghanistan/Pakistan policies, transformation/infrastructure spending, healthcare reform, education reform, or just how our homeowner association dues are being spent, we are free in our ability to debate, discuss, and arrive at consensus.
We are also United and free to spend time with our families--I know that my own shared family time was delightful and precious--because of the sacrifices of our fallen heroes. Watching a movie, attending a barbecue, sleeping in, or just about anything fun and relaxing--for these pleasant moments of our lives we owe our fallen heroes a collective moment of gratitude.
If you didn't spend that special Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day at 3 pm thinking about the ultimate sacrifices our troops have given on our behalf, spend it NOW as you read this ... or do it a second time, just for good measure.
And on a final note, GONE are the days we blame our soldiers and veterans for the politics of the wars they fought. Our soldiers and veterans ARE our nation's greatest heroes--and on THAT issue, we are UNITED!
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us . The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 43
Pub: May 27, 2014
