12 November 2007

As I watched the television this morning, I was filled with patriotic emotion as the news rolled by with pronouncements of today’s Veterans Day celebrations and the deeper meaning of this holiday.  The words on the television were accompanied by images of our heroic American veterans, young and old, proudly saluting our beloved Stars and Stripes.  As I sat there, filled with patriotism, my mind drifted to an article I read on Friday: 

More than 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States are military veterans

On any given night last year, nearly 196,000 veterans slept on the street, in a shelter or in transitional housing, the study by the Homelessness Research Institute found. 

What does it say about a community who’s young men and women selflessly sacrifice their bodies and their minds to protect the lives of millions of us only to return home and literally be left out in the cold?   How many of the young men and women we have all seen near Fort Jackson, full of youthful excitement about the adventures that await them, have returned home as broken, homeless heroes?

It does not have to be this way.  With real political leadership, Columbia can finally begin to implement a comprehensive homeless solution to help our fellow men, women and children reclaim their lives.  With real political leadership Columbia will no longer have to avert her eyes from the pleading stares of our young men and women who have returned home as abandoned Patriots.

Four years ago, my opponent, Daniel Rickenmann, ran on a platform of leadership and accountability in government. Where has that clichéd leadership been when our veterans needed him? Where has it been when the rest of us needed him? Four years later, it is obvious that one cannot stand for what one does not believe in.

I believe in the promise of this community and in our moral obligation to our fellow man. It is time to stop denying our veterans their human rights and their human dignity. I will not abandon them. I will not abandon you.

Are you ready for real leadership? 

Vote April 1st. 

Sincerely,

Cameron A. Runyan

Candidate for Columbia

   City Council (At-Large)