The Time has come for More Veterans to be Elected to Congress

By: Captain Ralph Parrott SC USN retired
Published On: 10/2/2006 4:53:37 PM

Ralph Parrott, Captain, Supply Corps, US Navy (retired)

I am a 65 year old retired Navy Supply Corps Captain and retired businessman from Fairfax Station, Virginia.  I served in the US Navy from March 1963 until September of 1990, over 27 years.  This posting builds on the discussion the unheeded lessons of Viet Nam and begins to make the case for replacing Republican incumbents in Congress with veterans who appreciate the hardships imposed by incompetent military misadventures.
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At the most fundamental level the current Congress is more detached for the realities of military service than at any time in our contemporary history.  Additionally, the members of Congress bear little resemblance to ordinary Americans.  A few facts illustrate these points:

G求 Only 86 of 435 members of the House of Representatives have served on active duty.
G求 Only 27 of 100 Senators have served on active duty.
G求 123 of 435 members of the House of Representatives earned more than $1 million last year.
G求 1 in 3 Senators are millionaires.
G求 Very few members have children in the Armed Forces.

There can be little wonder that a Congress with this makeup has little understanding of the hardships associated with military service such as the economic impact of long periods of family separation and the loss of earnings by reservists through repeated deployments.  With this kind of demographic there is little wonder that this Congress has allowed the Administration to fight this war without any requirement for shared sacrifice on the part of the broader population.  The members of Congress, for the most part, have no experience with the sacrifices associated with military service.

The time has come to increase the exposure of Congress to the realities of military service and military family life by electing more veterans.  We must begin now.

Comments



What newspapers have you sent this to? (siegead - 10/2/2006 11:11:00 PM)
I would hope that you have sent to every single newspaper within the Commonwealth ... and, perhaps to something like Navy Times. (In that case, broaden it to "Fighting Dems".)  If you haven't, www.congress.org provides a reasonable tool for setting LTEs to newspapers.


Well said (Different Drum - 10/3/2006 11:49:30 AM)
I can recall discussions about this very fact from the early 90s, and on.  The uniformed military has been saying just this for some years now.  As we lose thousands of members of the "Greatest Generation" every year, not to mention the Vietnam generation, we become more and more isolated from our military, and the extraordinary load placed on their shoulders.

That is especially noticible in our national elected officials.  The idea has been raised before - While I don't support a draft except in relatively dire circumstances, there is something to be said for compulsory national service.

(JOC, USN Ret.)



Veterans (seamusotoole - 10/4/2006 9:28:28 AM)

Ralph,

Please get this into every paper you can think of in our
Commonwealth.  It's about time veterans were represented
in Washington.  It's disgusting to think that people who have never served their country and never been to war can sit back and send our sons and daughters into combat without giving it a second thought.  To add insult to injury they don't even provide them with adequate protection.

Andrew Cerillo
Retired Captain
US Army Signal Corps
Vietnam Veteran



Great Polling News--Tammy Duckworth Included (PM - 10/4/2006 11:13:48 AM)
A brand new Reuters/Zogby poll  -- but a Zogby old-fashioned telephone poll -- not the computer interactive kind -- was released today on 15 House races across the nation.

http://www.zogby.com...

The poll covered 15 seats currently held by the GOP.  The Dem candidates are ahead in 11.

The poll was conduced during the weekend, when the Foley stuff was hitting the fan.  (The fan is increasing speed as we speak.)

IL-06: Open GOP Seat (Henry Hyde retiring)
Tammy Duckworth (D): 43%
Peter Roskam (R): 38%

Duckworth is the woman who lost both legs in Iraq.

OH-18: Open GOP Seat (Bob Ney's old seat)
Zack Space (D): 45%
Joy Padgett (R): 36%

CT-04: Chris Shays, GOP Incumbent
Diane Farrell (D): 46%
Shays: 41%

CO-07: Open Seat
Ed Perlmutter (D): 45%
Rick O'Donnell (R): 34%

IN-09: Mike Sodrel, GOP Incumbent
Baron Hill (D): 46%
Sodrel: 38%

IN-02: Chris Chocola, GOP Incumbent
Joe Donnelly (D): 49%
Chocola: 39%

NC-11: Charles Taylor, GOP Incumbent
Heath Shuler (D): 51%
Taylor: 40%

AZ-08: Open Seat (Jim Kolbe retiring)
Gabrielle Giffords (D): 45%
Randy Graf (R): 37%

CT-02: Rob Simmons, GOP Incumbent
Simmons: 44% (R)
Joe Courtney (D): 41%

IA-01: Open Seat 
Mike Whalen (R): 47%
Bruce Braley (D): 34%

KY-04: Geoff Davis, GOP Incumbent
Davis: 42% (R)
Ken Lucas (D): 36%

MN-06: Open Seat (Mark Kennedy's seat)
Michelle Bachmann (R): 46% (unfortunately, Bachmann is somewhat to the right of Attila the Hun)
Patty Wetterling (D): 43%

NM-01: Heather Wilson, GOP Incumbent
Patricia Madrid (D): 50%
Wilson: 40%

PA-06: Jim Gerlach, GOP Incumbent
Lois Murphy (D): 43%
Gerlach: 41%

And in VIRGINIA!!!!
Incumbent
Phil Kellam (D): 46%
Drake: 42%

And in my old district up in Pa., where all the top pro-family GOP are campaigning for the guy (Sherwood) who physically abused his mistress, another pickup is possible according to this Oct. 3 Lycoming College poll:

Carney (D) 47%
Sherwood (R) 38%

Chris Carney's creds: Lt. Commander Navy Reserves,
Senior Terrorism and Intelligence Advisor at the Pentagon

Yes, exactly the type of people we need in Congress



Outstandiing Piece (Nick Stump - 10/5/2006 4:22:27 AM)
Thank you for your service and thank you for this fine piece.  You are absolutely right.  Keep up the good work.  I hope to see you writing here often.