Carl Higbie used his Newsmax program to deliver a blunt verdict: the Department of Veterans Affairs is failing the men and women who served, and the system needs radical change so veterans actually get the care and benefits they were promised. He didn’t mince words about bureaucratic rot and waste that too often turns sacrifice into paperwork.
Higbie argued that veterans are trapped in a maze of red tape while career bureaucrats protect the status quo, and he said the conversation must move from gentle reform to real structural change. His on-air tone made one thing clear — talk isn’t enough when lives are at stake; accountability and urgency are.
This isn’t idle commentary from a fringe host — Higbie’s FRONTLINE has been given a prominent evening slot at Newsmax, and he’s using that platform to spotlight failures at the VA for a national audience. That visibility matters because national attention forces politicians to choose between continuing the soft excuses and actually fixing the problem.
The demands Higbie pressed for track with what reform-minded officials have been saying: the VA must prioritize veteran outcomes, return resources to frontline care, and stop spending on divisive bureaucratic projects that don’t heal the wounded. Even former VA leadership and conservative allies have warned that programs like the Mission Act need to be implemented honestly, not as cover for doing less for veterans.
Conservative common sense points to clear solutions: give veterans more choice in where they seek care, strip protections that shield failing managers from consequences, and move resources toward proven treatments and timely claims processing. If we’re serious about honoring service, we should stop sacred-cow thinking and start rewarding results, not job security for paper-pushers.
Congress and the administration should stop treating the VA as untouchable and start legislating accountability, oversight, and patient-first options that actually empower veterans instead of tying them to a broken system. This won’t be easy or popular with entrenched interests, but reform never is — it’s necessary, and overdue.
Carl Higbie’s show is doing what the mainstream won’t: naming the problem and demanding real change rather than polite rhetoric. If America claims to value service, then we must back that claim with action: no more excuses, no more delay, and a system rebuilt around the people it was created to serve.
