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From time to time in our nation’s history, a cultural or social upheaval has resulted in a wave of new lawmakers entering Congress. Often the triggering event has been war. John F. Kennedy was one of many young men who returned from World War II to serve the nation as political leaders, and several members of the “greatest generation” continue to serve in Congress. There are numerous Korean War and Vietnam War veterans in Congress as well, the two most prominent Vietnam veterans being former presidential candidates John Kerry (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ). 

It is not always a shooting war that brings sweeping change to the nation’s leadership. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which sought to complete what post-Civil War Reconstruction had left unfinished, turned the House of Representatives from a white man’s club into a people’s house more representative of America’s diversity. In 1974, public outrage over the Watergate scandal swept a class of Democrats into office. 

In 1991, Anita Hill’s allegation of sexual harassment during Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court was one of the first engagements in the culture wars of the 1990s. It provoked a lively national debate over the place of women in our society and resulted in an unprecedented flood of women into Congress in 1992, which became known as “The Year of the Woman.” A second engagement in the culture wars was the 1993 debate over gays in the military, and although less dramatic, the increase in openly gay political leaders has been steady ever since. 

The congressional election of 2006 has the potential to be the next turning point in our nation’s political development. Sparked by a splendid little war gone bad and Democratic candidate Major Paul Hackett’s surprising near-victory in the heavily Republican Ohio 2nd congressional district, about 20 veterans have declared their candidacy for the House and Senate. What is odd is that it is not only Iraq War veterans who are seeking seats in Congress for the first time. In fact, a majority of the current wave are former officers and enlisted personnel with earlier military service. Why are these older soldiers turning to politics only now? 

The coming “Year of the Veteran” in 2006, while it shares some of the characteristics of previous waves of soldier-statesmen, also displays profound differences. This wave has arisen in reaction to the misguided militarism that instigated the Iraq war. This wave has also been shaped by the culture wars, by competing visions of what American values should be and how our country should conduct itself within the family of nations—“family values” in a much larger sense. 

To a large degree, the combatants in this American political insurgency have been spurred into action by their belief that the Iraq war was a mistake, and to continue a failed policy that pointlessly chews up lives and limbs is madness. They believe that the decision to send young Americans into harm’s way should not be made by “chicken hawks” who never spent a day on active duty, and in many cases never wore a uniform, yet are quick to commit the sons and daughters of others in battle. 

The horror and waste of war, and thus the gravity of the decision to go to war, can only be fully understood by those who have been there. This is not to say that military service should be a prerequisite for election to Congress or the presidency, although this might have rendered American history far less bloody. It is significant that America enjoyed its longest period without a foreign war while Civil War veterans controlled the Capitol and occupied the White House. 

People volunteer for military service not for love of war but for love of country. On Veterans’ Day and every day, let us say to all of them regardless of where or when they served, “Well done, and welcome home.” And between now and next Veterans’ Day, if a veteran asks for your vote, listen to what he or she has to say. 

Thomas Gangale is an aerospace engineer and a former Air Force officer. He is the executive director at OPS-Alaska, a think tank based in Petaluma, and an international relations scholar at San Francisco State. 

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