The Washington Times reports that twenty-two Republican senators have cited recent comments by the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “that appear to call into question
whether military service members should vote.”
In a letter sent Thursday, the senators urge Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey
to make a public statement urging every service member to vote and
telling them how they can register and cast ballots if they are deployed
abroad.
General Dempsey spokesman responded:
His remarks are the latest in a series of comments apparently
responding to the formation of political action groups headed by former
military personnel that have excoriated President Obama and his
administration over leaks about the nation’s intelligence and
counterterrorism victories.
Col Lapan said he was responding to reporter’s questions about the groups, and
“Had he been asked about groups of former military supporting Democrats,
or even Libertarians, he would have responded in a similar way.”
This statement is truly remarkable in that Dempsey’s defense is a partisan statement itself. The prepared statement deflects from the real non-partisan issues raised by the Senators and other groups about low military voting participation rates, the importance of voting, and his equivocating out loud about whether the military should be neutral, apolitical, or even vote at all. Having obviously not read the letter from the Congress, General Dempsey erroneously attributes the letter to the recent flare up he had with former active duty veterans criticizing President Obama for national security leaks. Wrong.
In August, Dempsey publicly criticized former military members for their criticism of the President. Of course, these former military veterans have no obligation to hold back in asserting their free speech rights in the political arena. Even in that instance, the highest ranking military officer in the land, General Dempsey, inappropriately inserted himself into the political process as a foil for President Obama. It was unnecessary and inappropriate as the political process would have played itself out in the debate over the disclosure of national security secrets. In that case, the non-political Dempsey, while in uniform, felt the need to defend the Commander in Chief from…..political ads and civilian speech. So much for non-partisanship, apolitical neutrality coming from the highest ranks of the military.
Lastly, the comments of his spokesman are simply untrue. General Dempsey’s comments to the troops on “neutrality” go way back to April 2012 with his essay in a military publication called Joint Forces Quarterly where, in a presidential election year, instead of encouraging participation, he lifted up the example of voting abstinence, General Marshall, who never voted in his life. General Dempsey should stop engaging in political retorts and answer the substantive questions posed by the Congress or he will have many more questions to answer.