VETPAC Form

IT'S WORTH THE EFFORT

THE POLITICAL PROCESS AND SERVICE DISABLED VETERANS

VETVOTE
A Veteran Voter Registration Project to increase the Election partcipation or our nations six (6) million service disabled veteran family voters and the forty-three (43) million other disabled persons.

The most common formula for estimating the political impact of service disabled veteran issues are those calculations that use the actual 2.2 million disabled in service and prisoner of war veterans (SDV) when estimating the size of the politically reactive population. Added to that base is a 1.5 multiple factor representing immediate family members of the base and 26 million military veterans that have confirmed almost total support and esteem for SDV needs and concerns. Disregarded, although responsive, in those evaluations are significant populations such as: the general veteran 40 million immediate family members, 250,000 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employees and 2 million active duty military persons and their 3 million immediate family members. Historically, Service Disabled Veterans have not felt the need to politically express themselves since the 1922 Veterans March on Washington D.C. that demanded the first certification of veterans benefits. After most of the successive military conflicts involving United States participation since 1922, the various branches of U.S. Government have consistently responded pro-actively to the needs of the SDV, alleviating the need for partisan political expressions. However, recent changes in the World military postures and the distribution of economic resources in the United States have given rise to new coalitions with aggressive demands on U.S. government directed resources. Many of these coalitions do not believe that the sacrifice for the interests of our nation is deserving of commitment of the nation's resources to alleviate the damages of that sacrifice. They are seeking to establish new standards of resource eligibility. This has resulted in the first assault on SDV resource entitlement in 70 years. Understandably this has given rise to demands, in the SDV Community for political action. ASDV has taken part in national conferences regarding the need for SDV political expression and what form that action should take. ASDV has advocated support for a non-partisan, issue oriented program to be implemented only when the well being and rehabilitation of the service disabled and prisoner of war veteran is threatened, In order to appraise and educate the Service Disabled Veterans of such situations, ASDV will continue, its program of state and national recognition conferences Additionally, ASDV will maintain a profile of the actions of those state and federal legislative and administrative officials that affect the well being and rehabilitation of the SDV. This information will be reported each Spring and Fall of each year in a report entitled "SDV LEGISLATIVE REPORT".

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