Veterans Who Love America, Liberalism, and the Environment
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Recent campaigning by a progressive military vet organization called the Truman Project -- they not only showed up at RootsCamp this past weekend but also spoke before Congress -- reminded me and others how diverse the military really is and how unrealistic many of our stereotypes about those who serve are.
The Truman Project's efforts, separate from those of bigger tent, not necessarily progressive organizations like the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, are devoted to building solidarity between military families who are not only pro-America, pro-Constitution, and pro-Freedom, but also pro-environment, pro-gay rights, and careful about the use of military power.
At RootsCamp, Jon Powers and Alex Cornell du Houx spoke for the Truman Project about this phenomenon, relating how many assumptions about the military and liberalism backfire in the midst of this large subset of military families.
Powers, for example, made the case in Congress this week that the U.S. government should protect the environment and shift toward cleaner burning fuels, if not for liberal causes at least to reduce the flow of money from the U.S. to countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other places where the trickle down may be associated with threats to national security. The group also calls for a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." What better antidote to the Tea Party does America have than the Truman Project?
Back at Camp Geiger in 1994, and in my other years in the military, those of us who were most vocally moderate or liberal felt seriously isolated, particularly in discussions about loyalty to President Clinton, risks of civilian casualties, and the treatment of prisoners. I had grown up in a very conservative family, so I was shocked to hear fellow Marines out-war hawking, out-small-governmenting, and out-bigoting the warrior-cons of my youth as we threw grenades, shot targets, and stabbed dummies with bayonets. But now I can see that my sample from which I was basing these perceptions was biased.
Looking back, I can now recall there were urban minorities who were Democrats, as well as Black Muslims, in my unit, but they just didn't feel like getting into arguments with the dominant war hawk personalities, among whom included racists and borderline psychopaths. There were really sweet guys, dutiful sons, and jerks all along the political spectrum. It was just that, while training to kill, the moderate majority seemed to be quiet and solemn, while the radical war hawks were cheering and laughing, so they just took up more space in memory.
While on break from my Marine reserve unit, not having been deployed overseas like some of my fellow Marines, I took two research trips to the Balkans. There, I interviewed Bosnian veterans and persecution survivors about what it was like in the war, why they fled their communities, and how they coped with violence.
Seeing it briefly from the inside, how war can transform a community, brought an undeniable enlightenment that helped me to realize that, although I did not always agree with all liberal causes, I was a believer in global community, sacrificing local welfare for the benefit of others around the globe, and -- most importantly -- humility as a political virtue.
My point here is that, many progressives will improve not only their community relations but also their political coalition building by looking at the military not as a bastion of conservatism and war hawks but as a cross-section of our culture. Within the military there might truly be hardcore conservatives outnumbering struggling progressives, but it is not as predictable as many think.
Among both conservative and liberal military families there are war profiteers and sweethearts, selfish cowboys and humanitarians, college fund kids and jokesters. Just depends on a factor of which branch, which specialty, where they were recruited, whether or not they have seen the horrors of mass violence, and -- most importantly -- their individuality.
