A vote for Republicans equals a vote for Government failure.

Why is the world shocked over the state of our veteran's health care system? The reality of the horrors of the VA and military health systems are open to anyone with eyes who cares to look around. Why was the recent Washington Post article on conditions at Walter Reed Army hospital viewed as a shocking revelation?
One thing that our country shouldn't be too shocked about is that Republicans have allowed this system to fester for so long. After all, Republicans hate Government. They argue that government should be trimmed down to its most essential elements - defense, in particular. Extending Republican rhetoric further, we could imaging by Republican standards, our entire military health care system would be outsourced to private companies and churches. Could you image the fate of a wounded veteran in the hands of Halliburton or the Roman Catholic church?!?
It's time that America stops acting so surprised. We voted, in 2004 at least, for a bunch of Republicans who clamor against government, then we whine when government fails us. We get what we vote for. We saw this in the 9/11 attacks, the Katrina disaster, and numerous other failures under Bush and Republican leadership.
Yes, the critical readers of the Gadfly might raise objection, that the VA health system was abysmal under Clinton's leadership as well. Yes, this is true. But, at least Clinton would never hide from reality, create wars under false pretenses, and produce hordes of wounded and dead veterans for a lost cause. Also, if Clinton had waged a war during his presidency, he would believe in the power of government to do good things and ensured a strong VA health system with appropriate oversight. Alas, perhaps even Republicans nor Democrats have enough sway to change the difficult, entrenched ways of the VA and military health care systems.
I would argue the first step in improving our VA health care system is to stop fighting lost cause wars, thereby stopping the hemorrhaging of otherwise good lives and a generation of wounded vets. By stopping the inflow of patients the system can't handle, we take the first step in trying to make sure every vet is appropriately cared for in the system.