Lori Sturdevant: War veterans for office

07/24/2006

Afghanistan and Iraq war service led these four to enter politics. They are the first of a coming wave.

Lori Sturdevant
Published: July 23, 2006

Since Americans made a beloved general their first president, wars have been spawning politicians in this country.

And each war has left a distinct imprint on the politicians it produced.

For example, soon after World War II, vets like Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy—and, in Minnesota, Orville Freeman—ran for office. They had seen government defeat a Depression at home and enemies abroad. Whether Republican or Democrat, they preached Cold War resolve and favored government activism.

Then the Vietnam War divided the nation and the politicians it touched. Witness liberal John Kerry and conservative John McCain. Witness the increasing polarity since Vietnam-era politicians took the nation’s reins.

Here come the veterans of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—not yet in big numbers, but with a presence that will be noticed in one Minnesota congressional race and several legislative districts this fall.

What manner of politician is emerging from the first American wars of the 21st century? I talked with four new veteran-politicians—DFL congressional candidate Tim Walz, GOP state House candidates Andy Davis and Bob Dettmer, and DFL state Senate hopeful Andrew Borene—and got an early read:

They are idealistic, yet pragmatic. They see running for office as an extension of the choice they made to enter military service.

Unlike veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, these vets were all volunteers in uniform. They say filing for office felt much the same as signing up with Uncle Sam. The two who are also teachers—Walz and Dettmer—think of their whole careers as a single piece.

Dettmer: As a teacher, you are a servant. You have to have a servant’s character to stay in education. You serve the public, you serve the students. As a military officer, you serve your country. As a politician, you’d better be a servant. If you’re not, you’re in it for the wrong reasons, and it’s time to get out of it.

Walz: I always saw this from a servant leadership perspective. You do these things. You serve, and the military is just one of the ways you serve. There are many other ways ... . What I’m doing now is just one more piece. It’s about trying to give back, trying to make a better community, trying to do the things that I think are required of us as citizens.

They put their lives on the line to build democracy elsewhere, and now they’re keen to energize it here.

Davis: I lost three friends to a pregnant female car bomber, just outside the town of Haditha. Seeing shortly thereafter the Iraqi election, and before that seeing the Afghani election, and actually having a woman in Kabul tell me, “You, American. You make sure I vote tomorrow”—it was probably the most powerful time in my life. I was this 220-pound ranger with all of this body armor on, and I almost cried.

Knowing full well that back home, more people were voting for “American Idol” than in elections, I thought I should get involved [in politics].

Dettmer: My son Robb [twins Travis and Robb are both military captains who have served in Iraq] guarded the voting locations in the [January 2005] election. He was just amazed. These people came out, even though their lives were in danger. They stood in line for hours to vote, men and women—women for the first time. They had an 80 percent turnout.

It puts us to shame. One of the things that hurts our country the most is apathy.

Borene: Americans can do great things ... . We drove through southern Iraqi towns where the Shiites had been freed [in April 2003], and they were carrying signs that said, “Thank you, USA.” I remember being thrilled at being part of a fight for freedom ... .

Americans take democracy for granted. I’m still waiting for the call to national service.

They’ve seen the value of diversity in human enterprises.

Davis: Diversity is huge. In my squad I had roughly the same 10 guys for three, four years. I had a former gang member from Compton [Calif.], I had a couple kids from Queens, I had a kid from Texas who grew up on a ranch, and then there was me, a Minnesota farm boy. All of us would die for each other.

Then, being in the environments we were in, we had to bridge tribal differences in Afghanistan and religious differences in Iraq. It really taught me how to deal with diversity, and that you can’t solve everything with a weapon ... . We can’t lead troops up a hill with just my opinion, and the same goes for governing.

They experienced collaboration and concern for the common good, and want to apply those lessons to government.

Borene: I learned that our plan is always better than my plan. There is a little bit of give and take, even in command. And I learned that there are a million different ways to solve the same problem.

At the end of the day, partisanship doesn’t matter. People are what matters.

Walz: What happens in the military is that collective good, that social contract that we are all in this together. It’s the idea that we all do better when we join together. Government is an extension of the best we do together.

I’m absolutely convinced that this experience can be carried over [into government]—that sense of teamwork and commitment to solving problems and putting our political differences aside. You put those aside in the military to complete the mission. We can do the same thing in our schools. We can do the same thing in our counties. We can do the same thing with transportation, and so on.

They’re optimists about this nation’s future.

That’s so, despite their disappointment with the lack of progress toward peace in Iraq and the continued strength of Al-Qaida.

Walz, 42, and Dettmer, 55, said they draw their optimism from the calibre of the young people they met in the military. (Borene is 31; Davis, 25.)

Dettmer: They are dedicated, talented and focused on their mission. We’ve got to project a servant attitude about what we do in the world, and that’s what these young soldiers want, too.

Walz: I’m incredibly optimistic. I think what will come out of this [period in U.S. history] is a whole new group of leadership that is going to believe in transparent, responsible, receptive government. Not one based on ideological principles, but based on measurable principles that are good for this nation—on what will actually make this nation safer. A strength of shared commitment will come out of this.