Although veterans remain over-represented in politics, their numbers in elected office have dwindled over the years
FOR TWENTY years, Elaine Luria sailed the seas with America’s navy, rising to the rank of commander. In January 2019, two years after retiring, she entered the House of Representatives as a member for Virginia’s 2nd district, one of 96 veterans in the 116th Congress. Veterans like Ms Luria remain over-represented in politics—they make up 7% of the adult population but nearly three times that share of Congress—but their numbers have dwindled over the years.
The obvious explanation for this reversal of fortunes is that, with the end of the draft in 1973 and a shrinking army, there are fewer veterans to elect. There were over 26m of them in 2000 ; now there are 18m today . But their share of seats in Congress has fallen even faster than their share of the population. Part of the answer is that women, who entered Congress in growing numbers beginning in the late 1980s, are under-represented in the armed forces, making up just 16.5% of the army.
When veterans do run for office, their service is respected but not necessarily rewarded. In an ad for her re-election campaign this year, Ms Luria, like most such candidates, appears in uniform, and plays up her military credentials. That is not surprising. In surveys, the public are considerably more enthusiastic about the idea of a veteran candidate than about business executives or religious leaders, according to Jeremy Teigen of Ramapo College of New Jersey.
“What to me is going on is the long shadow of the Vietnam war,” says Ms Burgess. A generation of Americans, she suggests, could not bring themselves to elect either John Kerry, an opponent of the war, or John McCain, who believed the war was winnable, because to do so would be to settle on a view of that traumatic conflict. Mr Carter recounts a story of Mr Kerry describing this phenomenon to him as a “bamboo ceiling”.
Contrary to stereotype, those who have never worn a uniform are typically more willing to countenance intervention for humanitarian or nation-building purposes, says Danielle Lupton of Colgate University in New York state, though they get skittish when there are casualties. Veterans—whether they have seen combat or not—tend to be more restrained, though favour overwhelming force once a conflict begins.
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