Our volunteer military is an extraordinary thing. It’s the best vehicle we have for socioeconomic advancement. My own father turned his appointment to the Naval Academy into an upper middle class life that included sending his five children to college.
People enter the military from poor circumstances and leave with a skill, a trade, a college scholarship, and the discipline and vision to build a better life for themselves.
We do not conscript young people into service. They choose service as a way to secure their future. And some of them choose out of patriotism and a sense of duty to their country.
Some of them are called.
And that is the marketing angle Secretary Hegseth is hoping to exploit through the “Send Me” campaign that makes use of Isaiah 6:8 as if it were “Just Do It” or “Got Milk?”
If you want to read the entire passage from Isaiah, click here. It’s one I have personally felt attached to as this entire campaign has felt like a mission.
Those who are called to military service may find ranks with other like-minded patriots who feel grateful for the opportunity to serve. They may find a rewarding career, the vehicle they need to advance their own station, or the skills they need to be prepared for life after separation.
They might also find themselves dismembered, mentally damaged, or suffering from long-term afflictions like multiple sclerosis, due to service in combat zones. They might go missing in action, become a prisoner of war, or be killed in action. Service is not without risk.
We should take service seriously. We should fully understand the risks of military action, including the sacrifice of service members. And we should be prudent when deploying service members and utilizing military force.
I am opposed to unilateral military action, interventionism, and preemptive war. I am for protecting our borders, our citizens, and our interests. I believe the best protection is diplomacy and free trade. I do not subscribe to the Wilsonian doctrine that the United States should protect democracy wherever it is threatened; that is a Cold War mentality perpetuated by the military industrial complex.
I am not an isolationist. I recognize the interdependence of supply chains and the value of foreign trade and travel. Our nation is safer when we support and encourage trade and cultural exchange.
We are not safe when we leverage the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank to fund fragile or failing governments so that they purchase American goods and services and become beholden to our interests. Actions have consequences and for too long, under the blanket of “soft power” we have funneled taxpayer money into spaces with no transparency or accountability. We can no longer afford the kind of international philanthropy with no visibility or metrics.
The first question for every action of the federal government should be, “how will we pay for this?”
There are three options: 1) by reallocating funds from a failing program, 2) by working within the existing budgeted means of the department, or 3) by borrowing more money above the allocated budget. The third option is never the right answer.
The National Defense Authorization Act sets budgetary priorities and guidelines for the military, but the funding is actually done through the regular budget process. Except we don’t have a working process. We are living by continuing resolution. That enables the Department of Defense to maintain previous levels of spending and increase spending, incrementally, through appropriations.
Our Department of Defense needs to work within its allocated budget along a clear strategy of American safety, prioritizing defense, not war. And Congress needs to have a budget.
We owe our troops and our veterans care for service rendered. That care should be swift, professional, and comprehensive to return those individuals to a capacity for work, so that they may retain their individual freedom and autonomy after service.
I support the Trump Administration’s “Peace Through Strength” approach that prioritizes America’s prosperity above promoting democratic reforms overseas. The 2025 National Security Strategy document states the administration will avoid unnecessary military conflicts, pursue pragmatic trade agreements, and reject efforts to impose democratic or social change on foreign nations. I also agree that our allies should be as invested in global security as we are and recognize the need to secure the Western Hemisphere.
The challenge is that many of the administration’s actions and messages have not seemed to match the articulated strategy. It is unclear to me how tariffs passed through to American consumers (in the rising price of everything) and then refunded to corporations like Amazon and Walmart are prioritizing prosperity. Is that just a failed strategy?
I’m concerned that a conflict in Iran that disrupts supply chains and shipping routes and leads to higher gas prices is not a necessary conflict, but is, instead, a way to manipulate global markets for the specific, strategic investment of insider traders. Said more clearly: our military is being used to make money for oil investors, including the president.
We should all be concerned that at the helm of our government are people trusted to govern on our behalf who are, instead, governing at our expense.
We should be doubly-concerned that our military is being used like a business might deploy a new sales force, a customer survey, or an ad campaign to affect the market.
Someone posted on Twitter, “We are not being governed, we are being looted,” and I’m inclined to agree with them.
So what do we do? Vote better.
We have an opportunity in November to send someone sensible to the US Senate. Someone not captured by corporate interests, someone not working for a party that cares only about campaigns, contributions, and control. Someone not paid by foreign interests or special interests.
We can vote for someone who hasn’t had the game built and played for her.
Someone building something new, something honest, something authentic in South Carolina.
Someone who respects our military, understands our foreign policy, and can be trusted to govern on your behalf, not at your expense.
Here I am, send me.
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