America has always asked something extraordinary of its military servicemembers. Everyone who has served raises a hand and swears an oath, not to a president, not to a political party, and not to an ideology, but to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. It is a promise that places country above self and principle above politics. That distinction may seem simple, but in today’s Washington it has become increasingly rare. At a time when political identity often overshadows constitutional responsibility and partisan victory takes precedence over public service, veterans carry with them a perspective forged in an institution where success depends not on ideological purity but on trust, teamwork, and a shared mission.
Military service demands cooperation among people who, in civilian life, might never have chosen one another. Conservatives serve alongside liberals. Rural and urban Americans depend on one another. People of different races, religions, and backgrounds learn to rely on each other under circumstances where failure has real consequences. In uniform, political labels are inconsequential because accomplishing the mission is what matters. Veterans learn early that disagreement is inevitable, but division is a choice. They discover that respect is earned by those who work together and serve their country despite their differences. It is a lesson that feels almost foreign in modern American politics, where every issue seems to become another battle in an endless partisan war.
Congress rewards partisan loyalty and ideological confrontation. Too often, legislation is evaluated not by whether it improves the lives of Americans but by whether it delivers a political victory for one party or a political defeat for the other. Important policy debates become campaign material, compromise is dismissed as weakness, and governing gives way to performance. Americans have noticed, and trust in Congress is steadily collapsing.
This difference extends beyond public perception. Lawmakers with military service experience have consistently demonstrated a greater ability to advance meaningful legislation than many of their non-veteran colleagues. Those who have served on active duty are often among the most effective members of Congress and are more likely to sponsor and co-sponsor bipartisan legislation. Advancing legislation requires many of the same qualities that define successful military service: persistence, collaboration, trust, and an unwavering focus on accomplishing the mission. Shared experiences forge relationships that transcend partisan identity, and military service provides exactly that foundation. Veterans know how to disagree without becoming enemies because they have already lived that reality.
Perhaps this helps explain another political trend unfolding across the country. Nearly half of all Americans, 49 percent, now identify as independents, making them the largest and fastest-growing political group in the United States. Among veterans, roughly half identify as independents as well. Veterans understand that the world’s most difficult problems cannot be reduced to talking points or partisan slogans and that it is irresponsible to do so. Reality is more complicated. Leadership requires thoughtful judgment rather than reflexive loyalty, and solutions are often found beyond the rigid boundaries imposed by party politics. Inflation, healthcare, public safety, national debt, and our worrying decline in economic opportunity do not distinguish between Republicans and Democrats. Neither should those elected to solve them.
Veterans also bring a perspective to questions of war that is often missing in Washington. The Constitution intentionally gives Congress, not the president, the authority to declare war because the Founders believed that decisions about sending Americans into combat should rest with the people’s representatives and that granting Presidents the unilateral power to wage war without the country’s consent would be far too dangerous a power. Yet over the past century, particularly following the Second World War, presidents of both parties have steadily accumulated greater authority to commit American forces abroad while Congress has too often abandoned its constitutional responsibility. The result has been decades of military engagements initiated with limited debate and sustained without meaningful congressional accountability.
Veterans understand better than most what these decisions truly cost. War is not an abstract policy debate or a political talking point. It is measured in lives altered forever, families separated, and sacrifices carried long after the fighting ends. That perspective reflects neither isolationism nor interventionism. It reflects experience. Veterans know that military force is sometimes necessary, but they also know that it should remain the nation’s last resort, exercised deliberately, constitutionally, and with the full participation of the American people through Congress.
America’s political crisis is often described as a battle between left and right, but it may be more accurately understood as a crisis of purpose. Politics has become centered on winning rather than serving. But veterans know that no mission can succeed when every member of the team is focused solely on personal glory. The mission always comes first. The oath always comes first. The troops always come first. The country always comes first.
America does not need Congress to resemble the military, nor should it. Our democracy depends on vigorous debate, competing ideas, and civilian leadership. But it could benefit from more leaders who bring the military’s ethic of service into public life, leaders who understand that strength lies not in humiliating political opponents but in solving problems together. Veterans have already demonstrated throughout their service that Americans from every background can unite around a common purpose when the stakes are high enough. The challenges facing the nation today, from restoring trust in government to addressing our mounting debt, strengthening national security, and rebuilding faith in democratic institutions, are no less consequential.
Perhaps what Washington needs most is not another partisan victory, but a renewed commitment to the principle every service member swears to uphold: that our elected leaders’ loyalty first belongs to the Constitution and to the American people. In an era defined by division, independent veterans remind us of a truth that was once held self-evident: that public office is not about serving a political party. It is and must always be about serving our country.
Paid for by Todd Achilles for Idaho / J. Patrick Riceci, Treasurer. Copyright (C) 2026 Achilles for Idaho. All rights reserved.
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