Fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans – 
 
Freedom to vote is an individual right for American citizens who are 18 or older and are properly registered.
 
We have free elections in America because brave men and women who serve in our military pledge their lives to protect and defend our unparalleled way of life.
 
Today we get to vote for the political candidates we want to represent us for the greater good of America, be it local, state or federal government.
 
It’s important to show up at your polling station today and express yourself.
 
Staying home is not a choice. It is a cop-out and irresponsible even if you fully disagree with the candidates on the ballot. Moreover, you have waived your right to later legitimately complain against sitting politicians.
 
Remember, your one vote only makes a difference to you and only you. You have to live with it.

Teddy’s Bullseye 
 
Teddy Roosevelt rightly noted: “The government is us; we are the government, you and I.”
 
Thus, showing up at the polls and not voting for any candidate on the ballot for a particular office is a patriotic gesture because you have legitimately voiced your opinion that no candidate deserves your cherished vote because they do not measure up to your high-standards to represent “our government.”
 
For voters in the 33rd District, you may want to exercise this option today as neither Ted Lieu or Elan Carr has shown any support whatsoever for our war-injured and impoverished homeless Veterans who have been egregiously evicted from the Los Angeles National Veterans Home. They have been inhumanely incarcerated, sentenced to a life of misery and suffering on skid row and back-alley squalor.
 
Instead of supporting the federal judgment against top VA bureaucrats for engaging in nine illegal real estate deals with non-Veteran entities that are “unauthorized by law and therefore void,” candidates Carr and Lieu — both are Veterans and both are attorneys — have remained absolutely silent. They refuse to stand up for our voiceless war-injured and impoverished Veterans who remain homeless and hungry while wealthy special interest groups have taken over these sacred grounds.
 
It is our right – our responsibility — to reciprocate and not stand up for either of them.
 
Politics will not solve Veteran homelessness or end the crime, corruption and cronyism at the Los Angeles VA. Remember it was crime, corruption and cronyism that created these problems over the past 40 years under politician Henry Waxman’s “watch.”
 
Retiring U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman is not a Veteran. He never stood up for our disabled and needy Veterans. Instead, he bowed to the wants of his wealthy constituents. 
 
A vote for Mr. Lieu or Mr. Carr will be a vote for two more years of Mr. Waxman’s do-nothing-for-Veterans style of politics, except there will now be a Veteran doing absolutely nothing for our homeless Veterans. This is unacceptable!
 
Don’t hold your nose and vote for the lesser of these two. Hold your head high and don’t vote for either because your vote deserves only the best representation for our government at large and that includes the protection of the Los Angeles National Veterans Home located within the 33rd District. 
 
Unfortunately, no such candidate is on the 33rd Congressional ballot.
 
If you vote for either of them you have waived your right to later voice a complaint against the winner because you have accepted their do-nothing-for-Veterans brand of politics. 

Reserve your right to legitimately file grievances against tomorrow's winner.

God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!

Mr. Rosebrock may be contacted at rrosebrock1@aol.com