When your legislator fails you

No, I'm not talking about Sen. Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers' betrayal of us on the gas tax last year.

For Memorial Day last year (2015) I wrote a speech for Rep. Liz Pike (R-18) who happens to be my state representative, to be given at an American Legion Memorial Day Service.

(Not a church service, but a service where flags are retired.) Part of the speech involved the lack of state action to address veteran suicides which are popularly characterized as approximating 22 or so veterans a day around the US.

The federal government's been an abysmal failure in this regard, so the options are to continue on as is currently done; which is effectively, for the state to do nothing in particular; leaving it all up to the fed.

Or the State of Washington can grab the bull by the horns and begin to deal with this issue at the state level.

Look... I get that when it comes right down to it, this is not a "state" issue.

But in this particular instance, it is an issue of people living in this state who are dying because the Fed has failed in their duty to those people.

So the question becomes one of standing by and doing nothing; not even, as far as that goes, attending their funerals; or stepping up and starting programs at the state level that can actually positively impact this horrific statistic to make a positive impact on the lives of those most involved in the situation.

Within the confines of the speech I wrote the following:

The battle doesn’t end in the combat zone now, however.  Today, we bear the pain of 22 veterans a day ending their lives after they come home to us.  It’s a different kind of war… a different kind of battle and far too many of our men and women are losing it.

I am announcing today the start of a state-level effort to address this problem.  I pledge to you my promise to make the issue of veteran suicide a top priority at the state level because of the increasingly obvious shortcomings concerning this issue at the federal level.  This is not a situation where we can just stand back and wait for somebody else to fix it.

WE have to fix it.

Those who’ve served deserve no less.  And we can’t wait any longer.

Over the next few months, I’ll be reaching out to the various veteran communities for your input on addressing this issue.  Together, we can make a difference that can save lives.  Those who have served should get no less from the people they’ve been defending.

Thank you again for organizing this ceremony.  It means so much to come together and share on days like today, and I thank you all so much for inviting me to be a part of this.

Seems pretty straightforward: a pledge made to veterans… Many of whom are standing on their last legs as with the passage of time we all go to meet our Maker..

Unfortunately, Representative Pike failed to take the promised action.

The end result is that, to the best of my knowledge, no action was taken on this issue in the legislature for this session.

Ultimately, then, if asked "...have you done everything you can to address the issue of veteran suicide?" No one currently sitting in the Washington state legislature can honestly answer that they have.

And that includes my friend, State Representative Liz Pike (R-18)