Act of Courage #3: Walk the Talk
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A Congressional Pledge of Honor: “If I vote for war I will go to war, joining our troops on the field of battle.”
Few acts of Congress carry weightier consequences than taking the nation to war, yet few acts are so far removed from the typical member of Congress’s comprehension. No more than one out of every five members of the current Congress has served in the military and few of them have ever been on the front lines. It is time we ask our leaders to show the same courage that our military servicemen and women show day in and day out. It is time they experience first-hand the consequences of their decisions.
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If we, as a nation, are to go to war, shouldn’t our leaders be standing alongside the troops?
This is not a call for members of Congress to take up full-time military service, but rather to undertake special tours of duty, up to several weeks in length, during congressional recess. War would no longer be just an abstract notion; it would be made real for Congress, just as it is for those who do the fighting. When the members of Congress start putting their own safety on the line, their decisions will be based on more than just political motives. They will, for once, have “skin in the game.”
