I saw this column by the brilliant Victor Davis Hanson discussing the returning trend of military veterans running for elected office.

The current combat-veteran candidates certainly aren’t the usual state legislators or congressional aides ready for career advancement. Neither are they antiwar liberals who flash their national-security credentials, nor one-issue hawks who want more defense spending. They don’t claim that their combat experience guarantees good governance per se — not after the examples of Murtha or disgraced Republican Duke Cunningham. And they aren’t retired generals used to deference and the spotlight.

So, other than a shared furor at out-of-control spending, government takeovers, and corruption, the 20 or so soldier-citizen candidates are an odd bunch. Some are officers; others are enlisted men. A surprising number were wounded in combat.

The story continues.

For 30 years after 1865, almost no American could get elected to office without prior Union or Confederate Civil War service. And last century, being a World War II veteran was virtually mandatory for any congressional leader until about 1970.

But Iraq and Afghanistan are seen differently from the collective sacrifice and bipartisan efforts of past wars. Our current veterans usually fought in impossible circumstances, where friend and enemy were sometimes indistinguishable. The aims and means of their mission were often questioned — with the public as against the difficult later stages of the wars as they once were for their easier beginning stages.

As a result, these veterans are not saying, “Vote for me because I fought for you,” as much as, “Vote me for because I did my duty, even if some in this country questioned why one would.”

We live in a wartime of economic crisis, crushing debt, and endemic political corruption. Rules, obligations, and laws don’t seem to matter. Personal honor is an archaic, fossilized concept.

But suddenly, amid public malaise, dozens of nontraditional soldier-citizens have stepped forward out of the shadows to argue that right now in America, neither money nor incumbency matters as much as civic duty and the old idea of public service. And unlike most of us, they once put their lives on the line to prove just that.

In South East Michigan we have one such candidate running for Congress, Republican Rocky Raczkowski.

Rocky has served our nation in three (3) wars while in the United States Army for 24 years and he knows that our nation is at war with extreme Islamic fundamentalists who want to end our way of life. Especially considering what we endured as a nation on September 11th, we have no choice but to win the war on terror – decisively.

Rocky is running for Congress in Michigan’s 9th district against the moneyed up Democrat Gary Peters. Gary Peters,  who by the way, voted for Obama’s Stimulus, Socialized Medicine &  Cap and Tax. He defends these votes with the same cliche over and over that theses votes would, you know, help the economy and create jobs.

I like this quote from Rocky’s web page:

Rocky knows that our government spends too much and has become too intrusive in our daily lives. He has the courage to say “no” to the special interests and will take a simple message from Oakland County to Washington DC – STOP PRINTING MONEY!

Well said.