Christopher Gibson

As most of those close to this grand blog know, we are organizing on several fronts to help Chris, see below. If anyone wants in, let me know. 

You can read the section below or see his web page.  

As you will see, we have a chance, for a change, to vote for a grown up, one who not only understands the Constitution, but who has put his life in harm's way to protect it.  This is no small matter or a grotesque charade, a la Mr. Kerry. 

I met with Mr. Gibson the other day and he is clear, focused, and honorable.  I just hope that is still in vogue.

His call for smaller government and a return to cleaner government cannot be doubted. I do not see him changing to meet the pressures in D.C. 

The column below is offered here with respect to Chris' credentials.  I am glad the author sees former officers entering politics. What holds the military together is honor;  what is degrading our nation on a daily basis is mockery of it.  At the core, things really is that simple. Honor or dishonor. All the rest is detail.

NY POST: 

From battle to ballots

Veterans aiming at Congress

Last Updated: 4:35 AM, May 6, 2010

Posted: 1:43 AM, May 6, 2010

Comments: 1

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Victor Davis Hanson

Usually a handful of ex-sol diers seeks political office every election cycle. But more than 20 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are running this fall for Congress alone. Almost all are riding a wave of public anger at incumbents over a profligate government and dishonest Wall Street -- and a general feeling that the Democratic remedy has proven as bad as, or worse than, the GOP disease.

The "culture of corruption" of the previous Republican-controlled Congress simply continued under the present Democratic majority, thanks to the likes of Chris Dodd, William Jefferson, Eric Massa, Charles Rangel and the late John Murtha.

Gibson: Retired Army colonel running for House in NY's 20th.

Reform candidate President Obama has run up more debt in 15 months than unpopular spendthrift George W. Bush did in eight years. Obama once talked of a new unity, but he has polarized America far more rapidly than did Bush.

The public is desperate for civic-minded leaders untainted by Washington but who have a proven record of competent service on behalf of the nation. If they haven't held office before -- apparently, so much the better.

The combat-veteran candidates certainly aren't the usual state legislators or congressional aides ready for career advancement. Neither are they anti-war liberals who flash their national-security credentials nor one-issue hawks who want more defense spending. They don't claim their combat experience guarantees good governance per se -- not after the examples of Murtha or disgraced Republican Duke Cunningham.

So, other than a shared furor at out-of-control spending, government takeovers and corruption, the 20-something soldier-citizen candidates are an odd bunch. Some are officers; others are enlisted men. A surprising number were wounded in combat.

Most are running as Republicans and seem to have little if any money. They weren't so much preselected by GOP operatives as pushed forward through grass-roots and sometimes Tea Party support.

In New York's 20th Congressional District, retired Army Col. Chris Gibson -- four deployments to Iraq -- is a PhD, former West Point instructor and author of a book on civilian-military relations. He received a Purple Heart, and recently served in the Haitian relief effort. While he's running on smaller government and lower taxes, his main theme is a call for ethics, accountability and a return to the notion of the citizen-legislator who works in Washington, rather than works the Washington system.

Other veteran candidates are already well-known. In Florida's 22nd Congressional District, decorated retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West was involved in a controversy seven years ago when he purportedly fired a pistol near an Iraqi prisoner who he thought had information on a planned ambush of West's battalion. West has MA degrees in military arts and sciences and in political science, and was wounded a few years ago while serving as a civilian adviser in Afghanistan. His theme also is ostensibly smaller, cleaner government, balanced budgets, strong national security and lower taxes.

For 30 years after 1865, almost no American could get elected to office without prior Civil War service. Last century, being a World War II veteran was virtually mandatory for any congressional leader until about 1970.

But Iraq and Afghanistan are seen differently from the collective sacrifice and bipartisan efforts of past wars. Today's veterans usually fought in impossible circumstances, where friend and enemy were sometimes indistinguishable. The aims and means of their missions were often questioned -- with the public as against the difficult later stages of the wars as they once were for them in the easier early stages.

These veterans aren't saying, "Vote for me for because I fought for you," as much as, "Vote for me because I did my duty even if some in this country questioned why one would." 

We live in a wartime of economic crisis, crushing debt and endemic political corruption. Rules, obligations and laws don't seem to matter. Personal honor is an archaic, fossilized concept.

But suddenly, amid public malaise, dozens of nontraditional soldier-citizens have stepped forward out of the shadows to argue that right now neither money nor incumbency matters as much as civic duty and the old idea of public service. And, unlike most of us, they once put their lives on the line to prove just that.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/from_battle_to_ballots_cqJoMbe00xT0J6goLVVpCK#ixzz0nATHzYcY