It used to be that when politicians wanted to curry favor with veterans they’d head for American Legion halls and VFW gatherings, or more recently rallies put on by Iraq and Afghanistan Vets or a dozen other organizations. This year, though, many Republicans have seized upon the Veterans Administration’s widely publicized difficulties providing health care and made it the latest target of their privatization dreams.

Over the last year, every major GOP candidate with the exception of Donald Trump has made a pilgrimage to gatherings put on by Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), a group that had barely formed during the 2012 primary cycle. Whereas candidates back in the day were under pressure from the old-line veterans’ groups to promise undying support for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its nationwide network of hospitals and clinics, the opposite has been true this season. Candidates at CVA rallies have been competing with each other to badmouth the VA and its allegedly shabby treatment of veterans. And all have pledged fealty to the CVA’s goal of moving as many vets as possible out of the VA into private care. Even Trump is calling for more “choice.”

I have been getting health care from the VA since November of 2012, and I’ve gotten an appointment and seen a doctor any time I wanted one. None of the vets I’ve met at the local clinic have complained at all about their care, even when Honolulu’s Vet Clinic was reputed to have the longest wait times before seeing a primary care doctor at 145 days in June of 2014. It dropped to 35 days by November of the same year. Why? Two more primary care docs were hired.

Privatization of the VA would destroy the best medical care system this country has. If you are a vet, know a vet, or think the Republican party’s privatizaton fetish is a horrible idea, pass the linked article along to any and every voter you know.