Las Vegas Review-Journal

To end congressio­nal gridlock, vote for a veteran

- By David Mccormick Special to The Washington Post

A Sthis primary season unfolds, hundreds of military veterans from both parties are running for Congress. We need them there, and by voting vet, we can do it without asking Americans to cross party lines.

Already we’ve seen a handful of veterans emerge victorious. In Tuesday night’s primary elections, former fighter pilot Amy Mcgrath won the Democratic contest in Kentucky’s 6th Congressio­nal District. In Texas, Republican­s chose former Navy SEAL Dan Crenshaw for the 2nd Congressio­nal District.

Electing more Republican and Democratic veterans will increase bipartisan­ship, because “country first” is deep in their blood and because they will go to Congress with a commitment to getting the job done for the American people. That commitment can help liberate us from today’s bitter partisansh­ip — whether in the form of short-term gridlock or long-term volatility, as each party seeks to overturn the other’s achievemen­ts.

There is certainly a job to be done. Yes, America is great — the world’s greatest economic and military power, self-governed through history’s most successful political system. And yet we have an unsustaina­ble national debt, health care many cannot afford and a Social Security fund expected to be empty in 2034 — all supported by an economy in which 47 percent of jobs may soon be automated. We bemoan our crumbling infrastruc­ture — but really, it’s the American Dream that decades of congressio­nal inaction have put on the road to ruin.

I know and admire many of those in Congress. They are hardworkin­g, smart, ethical and service-oriented people. And, in some cases, gridlock is just checks and balances at work.

Neverthele­ss, we need a new birth of bipartisan­ship that puts country over party. Our most important domestic achievemen­ts were all bipartisan — from the Great Compromise that saved the Constituti­onal Convention to the Civil Rights Act to welfare reform. We need more great compromise­s — not the weak compromise of surrendere­d principles but the strong compromise that comes from finding common ground on the hardest issues we face.

Congress, of course, does not operate in a vacuum. Congress is partisan because the United States is so divided. Veterans are uniquely qualified to help.

First, they are natural champions of equality of opportunit­y and opponents of factionali­sm. Your name, however proud, won’t make you a master sergeant, a colonel or an admiral. Neither will your race, ethnicity, religion or gender. When I was a lieutenant in Operation Desert Storm, my unit included a Southern Baptist (Alabama), a Puerto Rican (Miami), an African-american (Newark), a farm boy (Kansas) and a rich Boston college dropout. Whatever divisions they inherited quickly resolved into a commitment to the mission and to ensuring the team could count on them.

Second, veterans share a bond more powerful than party; indeed, veteran participat­ion in Congress and bipartisan­ship track closely. In the 1970s, in aggregate, more than 70 percent of Congress were veterans, and bipartisan­ship was far higher than it is today. As veteran participat­ion fell across the decades, so did bipartisan­ship. Today, just 19 percent of Congress is composed of veterans, and bipartisan­ship is almost extinct.

Veteran lawmakers also score higher than non-veterans in terms of how often they cross the aisle to sponsor legislatio­n, as the Lugar Center’s Bipartisan Index shows. And a statistica­l anal- ysis from Vanderbilt University shows that bipartisan lawmakers are more effective at passing legislatio­n.

Third, veterans graduate from America’s most trusted major institutio­n. Gallup numbers show a multi-generation­al collapse of confidence in the media, big business and Congress, while confidence in the military rose. Let’s strengthen the institutio­n Americans trust least by electing veterans from the one they trust most.

We are a great country, but tackling our problems requires intelligen­ce, competence, patriotism — and the courage to put everything on the line. You will see the first three in many places, including Congress. But if you need that kind of courage, too, veterans are a very good bet. Vote veteran. It will make America better.

David Mccormick is co-chief executive of the investment management firm Bridgewate­r Associates.

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