Yesterday I was holding forth on the lack of civility and lamenting the fact that the political discourse is restricted to the fringe elements of both parties. Something that often comes up in my discussions is that military service should be a prerequisite for all national level political leaders. This was one of the central themes to one of the best loved science fiction novels of my youth, Starship Troopers (nothing like the movie). I think there is some value to that thought but no longer agree with it, it is too restrictive. Its something the voters would have to agree on and that will never happen. I think it would be valuable because too many political leaders today focus solely on themselves, getting re-elected is the name of the game. One of the core values of the military is service - serving the country; suborning yourselves to the greater good of the whole. Some of that type thinking leavened into the current political discourse might actually lead to the compromises needed to move a democracy forward. Whenever this comes up in a discussion, the liberals, usually people I'm related to, go running for the hills imagining this would lead to knuckle dragging, mouth breathing, arch conservative governments. This is a fallacy most vets are faced with. We (veterans) are not all the same. We have the same type of political differences that any group of Americans share. If we are a little more hawkish on foreign affairs it might be because we have seen, first hand, the price of weakness in the face of tyranny. For the most part though, we embrace the total spectrum of the political rainbow. One of my best friends, a retired Navy vet, is a radical liberal and justifiably proud of that. Please watch the video linked below to see the honors bestowed on a former US Army Airborne Ranger, who might surprise you. We come in all shapes and sizes, like most of America, we're mostly in the middle politically, if a little more patriotic than most. Politics could use a dose of putting the country first, so service of some kind, including but not limited to military service, should be a prerequisite. Watch this video:
<http://www.youtube.com/v/PU-A7eqadho>
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