“Man can be the most affectionate and altruistic of creatures, yet he’s potentially capable of more viciousness than any other. . . in the name of his tribe or his god.”

I’ll attribute that quote shortly. But let’s just think about it for a moment. Apply it to the issues of the day, specifically the decision by 25 Republican senators to hold up a bill that would keep the government’s promise to thousands of U.S. military veterans that their service and sacrifices would be recognized and respected. A promise already tarnished by less than adequate attention over many years.

Out of the political chaos, divides between and within both major parties, came a compromise on funding that met with enough approval weeks ago to move forward — a miracle of give and take, compromise and bipartisan rational action — that was part of a budget reconciliation bill that also included much-massaged deal-making on action to address climate change.

It was stopped and sent back for another vote for reasons as thin as the mist on a morning meadow and this time, the same 25 GOP senators who signed on the first time around had changed their tune. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., head of the committee overseeing funding, got to the 25 who, as an afterthought, changed their votes.

The stated reason for the turnaround is that the wording of the proposed bill allowed too much discretionary spending in the future on veterans’ issues, and others.

It could be argued that anything spent on veterans’ health care would be a case of catching up and keeping up with needs, but there is a counterargument that has nothing to do with due diligence.

The counterargument is that frugality and responsible fiscal policy are the bedrock of Republicanism. But the cynicism in that response can be seen and heard in the fist-bumping and giggling of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, whose jubilation over sticking a loss to the Dems could not be contained.

But it has not played well, even with Republican voters. Veterans are respected by real people.

There is no better time for Republicans to support a bill that improves Medicare benefits for veterans while at the same time funding actions to fight climate change; veterans are dying of disease they contracted while working burn bits that were incinerating chemicals and other hazardous materials that could not be disposed of in the open in this country. And the fires and floods that are pounding the rest of us, including the most conservative parts of the nation, are hard counterpoints to the arguments on the Right that climate change is not a long-term issue.

This holdup of the funding bill for veterans’ health has probably cost the lives of some veterans who had a chance until some politicians reverted to playing partisan grudge games. No arguing that some of the victims of the climate disasters in the daily news might have been better off if we had taken more action 20 years ago.

But it was the Democrats who raised those alarms — vice president and then presidential candidate Al Gore put it out there for all of us in his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

The author of the quote at the top of this column was Dr. Benjamin Spock, whose philosophies were a foundation for parental guidance for years. He was a hero, then became controversial, too.

Dean Minnich is a semiretired journalist who writes in Westminster.