Posted on Feb 5, 2014
Should active duty military personnel be allowed to join a political party?
17K
141
87
9
8
1
This has been a controversial one. First a caveat, I am chairman of the Hawaii GOP and a member of the RNC so I clearly have my opinions.<div><br></div><div>But there has been past controversy of soldiers speaking out in uniform and getting in trouble. There are laws where there is clear separation, but where does it interfere with our first amendment rights?</div><div><br></div><div>Should military personnel be able to express their personal political views? Should the active component hinder political involvement? </div><div><br></div><div>*I am adding some comments below as an edit to clear up any confusion there may be on why I am asking this questions. </div><div><br></div><div><span style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;">...My question was whether or not speaking at all while on active duty should be allowed in order to prevent mistakes from happening where military get caught like General McCrystal did. He was an awesome general and could have offered much more but some political off hand comments he made makes it on the front page of rolling stone and he was out. From what I understand what he said was in confidence and not in his capacity.</span><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;">I am in the guard so I can hold the position I do now, but when on orders, my staff and state cmte know that I will not respond or do things that violate my orders. I will not mix the two up. <br><div><br></div><div>I am a big believer that the lines between the military and civilian sector should be separate and the civilian side with the authority over the military like our constitution grants. This is why Lincoln fired McClellan and Truman fired MacArthur, both generals were out of line regardless of what you think of their military strategy.</div><div><br></div><div>My question had nothing to do with being in uniform, but how much we can get involved to prevent any mistakes from slipping out. When I was a cadet at West Point, there was a vocal minority that active duty military personnel should not get to vote at all. They had a debate that we all had to attend as part of the class and of course we were all against it. </div></div><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;">I am firmly against this but they did bring up a good point. Military officers historically tend to be Republican, libertarian, conservative (not all). When Clinton was in office, his staff was known to routinely speak against the military and one senior staffer told one of the top generals that "we don't speak to military personnel." (From Colin Powell's biography). Many liberals historically have disliked the military because it tended to skew towards conservatives, and the nature of national defense itself. The minority that said military should not be able to vote was to prevent any perception that officers were politically skewed one way or another because of their votes.</div><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;">It is not about exploiting for political gain, but about maintaining a system where we promote that the military is apolitical, and its members may have to give up that right because of it. If they do have to give up the right, where is the line drawn? Right now the line is when not in uniform, you can do what you can do, but in uniform you can't. I think that is good. However one marine got in trouble because he spoke out against POTUS on facebook and wouldn't take it down when asked to by his chain of command. He argued he did while not in uniform and got court martialed. But if active can't say anything at all, then this wouldn't even be an issue. It would open up others though and I don't think we want to go down that route.</div></div><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(77, 77, 77); font-size: 12px;">That is the basis of my question. Whew, sorry for the long response!</div>
Politics
Law
Edited 12 y ago
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 39
0
0
0
That question for enlisted personnel was answered quite clearly in the election of 1864, With limitations such as a prohibition of advocating with subordinates, petitioning in groupsand public speech in uniform, Military folks have all the rights of civilians.
Military officers tended to refrain for voting or stating any political positions even among there peers i until after WWI as a matter of professionalism. the feeling was NOTHING should bring the armed services political neutrality into question. we must never forget that we work for and are controlled by civilians and that that is a necessary thing.
Military officers tended to refrain for voting or stating any political positions even among there peers i until after WWI as a matter of professionalism. the feeling was NOTHING should bring the armed services political neutrality into question. we must never forget that we work for and are controlled by civilians and that that is a necessary thing.
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
Your question is non-sensical. Active duty military personnel are already allowed to join a political party. What they can't, and should not be allowed to do is to put on the uniform and make political statements in favor of one candidate or the other. The seperation of our armed forces from the political process is one thing I am strongly in favor of.
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
No one is more greatly impacted by the political system than those in the military, to not allow them to fully participate in the process would be a great disservice to them (worse than Taxation without representation). The problem isn't their participation it's when they identify themselves as being in the Military (by wearing the uniform) while participating leading to the inference that their views are their military services views.
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
Yes Sir, the problem being people showing up at political functions wearing a military uniform or obvious military organization badges or tabs. I have always been involved in politics, the only time in uniform was as a voting assistance officer. The rest of the time civilian cloths. Even when asked at a function I would evade or avoid a direct answer saying it is against regulations to participate in political functions in uniform.
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
Techinically speaking, that was done when we registered to vote. As long as service members don't appear at political rallies while in uniform and don't express their political views in public, while in uniform, there shouldn't be a problem. The best rule to go by is when in doubt, consult applicable written guidance as well as your chain of command.
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
0
0
0
Have your views. Join whatever group you wish (so long as it does not advocate the overthrow of the government) But, NOT in uniform and not when it could be construed as attempting to intimidate subordinates from the same rights.
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
Yup - and they can put campaign stickers on their POV's as well. They just need to make sure that their personal views can not be misconstrued as being an endorsement from the military itself.
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
The problem is not so much belonging to, or working for, a political party as it is with doing so while in uniform and/or while seeming to represent the military. Keep the uniform and service out of it and every member of the service has the same political rights as anyone else (heck they can even run for and be elected as the President of the United States of America while still serving as an E-2 [well, theoretically at any rate]).
(0)
(0)
0
0
0
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google