Limit personal expression on political issues

David W. Kuhns Sr., Northwest Guardian

The national political conventions are just around the corner. After that comes the general election. For years the Army has campaigned to get Soldiers to register and to vote. But there are limits to how far leaders can go in encouraging voting — and there lie some lessons for us all.

A press release came across my desk once describing a complaint a Soldier filed about a registration campaign. It seems that a desk was set up in a PX to register Soldiers and family members to vote. An officer manning the table urged passersby to sign up, saying, “If we want to protect our pay, we have to elect ...”

It doesn’t matter what election he was talking about, or what candidate. The problem was that an officer was taking sides, publicly, and urging subordinates to take a particular political stance.

That was wrong.

The officer’s actions flew in the face of not only the law, but of a long-standing military tradition. Our leaders, historically, have avoided involvement in politics. In fact, multiple, contending parties have courted many famous Army generals, since their political leanings were unknown to anyone but them.

In 1951, both the Democratic and Republican parties essentially offered the presidential nomination to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower.

More recently, both parties sought support from Gen. Colin Powell, when he retired from the Army.

The meticulously non-political careers of these officers should be viewed as models. Their role was to serve their commanders in chief, no matter what party they represented. That is the duty of every Soldier — and civilian employees, too.

There have been Soldiers who have done otherwise. Gen. George McClellan resigned from command of the Union Army of the Potomac to support the opposition to Abraham Lincoln — after Lincoln had twice fired him — and then ran against the president’s reelection. McClellan’s actions were divisive and unprofessional — damaging to morale in the Army at a time when it hurt the most.

Soldiers are urged to vote. Soldiers ought to vote. But that is because it is a civic duty we should all carry out — not because there is a position Soldiers are encouraged to support.

Friends may discuss or argue the merits of candidates or ballot measures, but when it comes to leaders and subordinates, that sort of discourse is out of line.

Soldiers are sacrificing — and dying — to secure democratic rights for people in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a wonderful thing that they have the opportunity to exercise those rights themselves, whether deployed overseas or stationed at a post far from home. But the decisions they make when they sit down with an absentee ballot or enter a polling booth are private ones. No leader should intrude on that.

If you are a leader, encourage everyone to vote — voting is a celebration of the rights we hold most dear.

But follow the old Army tradition, too, and keep your personal viewpoints to yourself.