When I chose to make the military my career, I vowed to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Never in my nearly sixty years of age, did I think that, disagreements on policy priorities and governance aside, that our two-hundred forty year old nation would be so divided internally, and so poorly governed.
Since the first Gulf War, in 1991, the members of Congress in particular, and the Government bureaucrats and advisers, generally, with military service -especially wartime combat service have declined. With a world view fueled by lifelong academics with little to no experience abroad, the men and women who are seeking to “fundamentally transform America” ( then-candidate Barack Obama) do not have American interests, nor practical American foreign policy concerns at heart.
Whether it is the shortsighted foreign policy objectives or the politically-encumbered execution of military operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, military men and women have been sent into harm’s way. And the bureaucrats, industrial lobbyists, politicians, academics, and news media corporations, all vie for primacy while the American soldier, sailor, airman, marine, and our border enforcement agents all are treated shabbily.
When I heard today that Jeff Bezos of Amazon donated millions to a PAC, With Honor, I started to look into it. The idea that military, particularly combat-veterans, should run for political office and senior bureaucratic offices at all levels of government, cheers me. It sounds intriguing. I have served with some who have held offices in state governments and have brought a lot of wisdom and value to serving their constituents. But with electoral campaigns running into the millions of dollars, few can compete without well-connected benefactors. There needs to be effective support systems that are independent of party affiliation. And with veterans in the workings of government, there may be better opportunity to provide well-earned services to our veterans, and to provide some sober judgement about policies that may send others into harms way.
Truths, Half-truths, and Sea Stories 