Seat at the Table: Including our Veterans to Rebuild Civil Society
Seat at the Table: Including our Veterans to Rebuild Civil Society
D.R. Scott
DuLac Advisory
When I was 9 years old, my Grandfather showed me a pocket-watch photo of his Great Grandfather in Union Blues, during America’s Civil War. Born in the days of race-based enslavement, I looked proudly at this time portal to my ancestor who left all he knew to help make other men free. Just think, when he joined the Army, America did not have the 13th, 14th, or 15th Amendments. It was thus constitutional to traffic human beings, force them into inherited work contracts, assault or kill them for alleged disobedience, and claim them as 3/5ths proportional representation for Congress. We are forever indebted to those who risked their lives in that terrible war to help make others free, and propel America closer to its original hope: to be a bastion of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people.
On Veteran’s Day, we pause to salute those who served in our Nation’s Armed Services. It is one of the few holidays that Americans, regardless of political party or religion, find common cause to recognize the shared purpose and sacrifice that our men and women of the military provided to our young country. With a pandemic roiling our communities, where social inequalities are being laid bare, I believe measuring how we treat and include Veterans in our social fabric, may also be used as a plumb line to identify our progress towards an ever More Perfect Union. As in the past, we have work to do— however, with the decline of Veteran representation throughout important institutions of power and community, this work will become ever more reliant on strong civilian partnerships. Proactively including veterans into our country’s social, industrial, and political framework will not only be great for those who served, but it also will be key to revitalizing our country’s wounded civil society.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, a strong social fabric emerged in this country that led to progress throughout the expanding country. Veterans took up higher education thanks to Federal Land Grant universities, thus enabling a Western expansion of our burgeoning middle class. Additionally, the Homestead Act expanded economic opportunity for many 2 million laborers as they received plots of small land in the newly conquered west for a tough but worthwhile life of artisanal farming. Veterans in the emerging labor unions that helped quell the most Leviathan desires of pre-Sherman Act capitalist Tycoons. African American Veterans were eventually excluded from mainstream American society, but they often became the vanguards for forming black run businesses, community institutions, and universities (despite the financial constraints and constant threats of domestic terrorism). The bonds of service helped build bridges across social classes. This proved invaluable to help an America, that was still nurturing stark divides following the Civil War, from coming apart again in the post-war era of rapid social and industrial change. The connectivity between Veteran representation throughout society, and progress of our nation can be seen in more recent periods as well. These connections have been tantamount to civil society’s success at building a More Perfect Union.
Traditionally the military has been one of the originators of meritocracy, clear supervisory rules, and a pathway to the American middle class. When many of us think of Veterans, we wistfully think back to those black and white photos in 1945 of Sailors, Soldiers, and Marines energetically kissing their wives upon coming back to New York after defeating Nazism. Most of those service members went on to achieve the American dream afterwards— utilizing the G.I. Bill for Housing and Education. Suburbs expanded and Universities increased class sizes. During that period, many in industry and finance had service records. This was truly a period where a rising tide lifted all boats— many of which had Veterans at the helm. These WWII Veterans also had higher levels of civic and political engagement that provided long-term net social cohesion and benefits for America.
Long before Pres. George H.W. Bush was in politics, he served as a airmen in the Navy during WWII. Following his valiant service, he returned to the U.S. to go into the oil business. John Meacham’s biography on the late President, Destiny and Power, describes how Mr. Bush made successful social transition from Connecticut to West Texas. Perhaps, in the Post-War era, a shared history of service to the nation facilitated social bonds and connectivity between red-blooded Texas “country-boys” and blue-blooded Yankees. Perhaps the shared history allowed The Greatest Generation to develop social trust: the lifeblood for civil society and thus our Democracy. Perhaps this type of connectivity and common understanding provided the sinews that enabled Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson to forge a coalition of moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Closer to home for me, each Veteran’s Day, I reach out to Veterans of my family and friends to personally thank them for their service. The Trees of Equal Protection, right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have long been watered with the blood of Patriots like him. This Veteran’s Day was a bit different though as one of my favorite Uncles, Staff Sargent Richard Heady, recently passed away from Covid-19 complications at a VA Hospital. My Uncle Richard was great— he served in the Korean War, two tours of duty in the Vietnam War in helicopters, and then taught ROTC towards the end of his career. He was able to witness a bit of notably tragic domestic Civil Rights history as well: Pres. Eisenhower ordered his platoon to safely the body of Emmet Till from Mississippi back to Chicago for the lynched teenager’s funeral.
Staff Sgt. Richard Heady
He never spoke anything of this history— despite providing me hours of driving lessons on the interstates of Indianapolis. Upon retirement, he was a leader of his neighborhood community watch group. He even played golf and taught me the rules of the game while watching the famous 1997 Masters (Tiger!). When he joined the Armed Services, he was not able to freely travel in half of the United States, gain employment in many echelons, nor use his G.I. Bill funds to fund higher education in the majority of universities in America. Despite this all, he kept an unwavering faith in the betterment of our country as it marches steadily forward to a more Perfect Union: he taught me to respect the Stars & Stripes as he raised Old Glory daily. He, like other Veterans such as civil rights hero, Medgar Evers, had faith the flag would be inclusive of everyone one day.
Covid-19, and its “K-Shaped” and disparate impact on people based on age, wealth, and race, indicates our country has major work to fortify our meritocracy. During previous times of political tumult, veterans provided the social glue to help our Republic. This glue has helped propel our country forward, enabling more people to achieve the American Dream. However, with the decline of military service across broad swaths of the country, is our country at greater risk of unraveling at its core? It may not be a coincidence that Veterans represent approximately 8% of our nation, and the seemingly decline of the rising tide effect, especially if the concentration of Vets come from the lower middle class:
“Today’s veterans represent a building block of our middle class ... in part because about 80 percent of those entering the military today come from families earning anywhere from $38,000 to $80,000 and beyond.” (George W. Bush Institute)
Could the lack of representation of Veterans in various civil institutions be contributing towards the politicization of non-partisan issues such as pandemic response public policy?
The decreasing likelihood of being able to achieve greater than your father is undoubtedly associated with the rise of economic and culture populism. To fix our country, we should look at ways of increasing inclusiveness for our country’s Veterans. We need to learn how to hire, provide comprehensive health care, how to include in our social equity, how to retain and mentor, and provide loans for entrepreneurial ventures. Most importantly we must learn ways to keep them from “bowling alone”— especially in a pandemic where the indirect impact of isolation could be nearly as harmful to younger Vets as catching Covid-19.
In our nation’s history, many of our veterans faced barriers to achieving major stakes in the very country they served. Many Vets faced discrimination for the color of their skin or their religion: for example, Irish American immigrants faced many hurdles, yet many gave their lives for the Union. Despite these hurdles, our great nation has fortunately never faced a shortage of brave warrior to come to the call of duty. Not afraid of Viet Cong, nor of structural restrictions on playing golf, my Uncle Richard learned to play in the 1970s at a Black owned Country Club). Veterans today, regardless of race, may face daunting hurdles of a different type than my Uncle. These barriers are implicit and rooted in economic opportunity.
Today, social
and wealth equity in America is increasingly becoming more readily predicated by
one’s inheritance
rather than merit. Many of us in well-to-do city and suburban bastions do
not personally know a Veteran. This is not a judgement on how individuals
conduct their social connections, but simply an observation. Vets of Military Service
have largely declined throughout many cohorts of society— whether in the Senate
or neighbors in the suburbs. of the
polarization that risks tearing America apart to sparring political and
cultural tribalism. Proactively enabling inclusiveness of Veterans throughout society will help decrease overall tribalism, increase socio-economic diversity, find pragmatic solutions to plaguing public policy issues, and open doors to the middle class.
Given the
pandemic and its fracturing effects on society, let’s turn Veteran’s Day 2020
into a month long reflection: let’s learn from Vets what we can do to bring our
country closer together during and after the pandemic. We should reflect and
plan what we can do for bringing Veterans who risked their own lives to help secure
the liberties of others. As a nation, we should tremble at the prospects of our
posterity if established positions of influence continue to have less Veteran representation
than
in previous generations. Bottom line, including our Veterans at tables of influence
of companies, non-profits, community groups, higher-education,
media, and politics will not only benefit them, but will also serve to better
our country— just as in previous generations. An ounce of social equity
can help our country lead the way to our pound of cure needed to secure liberty and justice for all.
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