INTERESTING TAKE ON THE NEW CONGRESS – AT 11:20 A.M. ET:  Pelosi hands the gavel to Boehner on Wednesday.  Republicans have a number of ideas on how to govern.  They also have an interesting view on the relationship of the new Congress to the military.  From Stars and Stripes, the storied newspaper for the armed services, which I think we're quoting for the first time today:

WASHINGTON — When the new Congress is seated later this month, it will boast the largest number of Iraq War veterans ever, but will have a lower overall number of members who’ve served in the military.

Veterans groups and the new slate of lawmakers hope that the influx of younger veterans — eight House members and two Senators, all Republicans, have served in Iraq — will help bring a new perspective to the legislative session, helping keep the focus on Iraq and Afghanistan even as financial reform issues dominate the headlines.

“I think you’ll see the House Armed Services Committee become more of a war committee than it has been in the last few years,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served with the Marines in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“We need to be more focused on Iraq and Afghanistan. And we need to make the military a leaner, meaner fighting machine.”

Yes, and the old problem of a bloated Pentagon bureaucracy is rearing its head again.  We must avoid drifting in the direction of Britain, where there recently were more employees in the Ministry of Defence than there were members of the Royal Air Force.

Hunter and Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman are the only two returning Iraq veterans in the House, but they’ll be joined by six freshman lawmakers with current war experience, including three who’ve been appointed to the House Armed Services Committee.

“If you’ve been in the military, you can take policy proposals and think about how that change is going to play out, not from an academic standpoint but from an experience standpoint,” said Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., one of those three newcomers and a major in the Army Reserve.

COMMENT:  Good common sense.  Each succeeding Congress has fewer and fewer members who've served in the military.  And that adds to the disconnect between the armed forces and the civilian population.  It appears that the GOP will make the most of the experience of those who've served, a sharp contrast to the Dems, who never seemed to give the matter much attention.

January 2, 2011