Barnaby, have you ever read the book Starship Troopers? The movie doesn’t do the book justice, but the concept of citizenship is still in there and it is pertinent to the point you are trying to make. In the book, only those who have served in the military are afforded citizenship. This was required reading for me at The Basic School in Quantico, VA – the same school that this Marine went through. Interesting idea isn’t it?
In my opinion, an officer like this is in a position to speak authoritatively on more than just the conditions under which he is fighting. This Marine’s experiences provided him with an insight on the political conditions and the impact of our policies that you and I just aren’t getting. Some of this, not all, can only be gleaned through experience and this gives him the right to speak more authoritatively about it than your average American.
In politics I agree that this idea is often taken to the extreme. For example, I’m not so sure that service in Iraq means that someone is suddenly better qualified to run for congress.
