Fighting polarization in Congress
Integrity. Civility. Courage.
Those are the three core principles of With Honor Action, as its co-founder and CEO Rye Barcott explains during this week’s episode of The American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast.
Barcott talks about With Honor Action and their work with the For Country Caucus, how they seek to advance veteran leadership in elected public service and the need to support our Afghanistan allies.
“The American Legion has been a fantastic partner With Honor,” said Barcott, who is a Legionnaire and Marine Corps veteran who served from 2001 to 2006 with deployments to Iraq and elsewhere.
Barcott, who co-founded his organization five years ago, outlined the priorities of With Honor Action. Among them: recruiting and training veterans who are committed to “serving with integrity, civility and courage, and especially the courage to be a workhouse and not a show horse.”
In 2017, he noticed the surge of veterans who were running for office. That’s where the idea for With Honor Action arose.
“It is a privilege to work on missions that matter,” he said. “In this country, I can’t think of many more problems that are important to us than the (political) polarization. It hits us in the face every day.”
Barcott noted For Country Caucus has its own staff and advocates for veterans issues. They meet every other week, usually having a guest speaker discuss a particular topic from which legislation can be created. From there, “we look at tangible solutions that can be put into place and that can stay bipartisan,” he explained.
Additionally, Barcott said that when The American Legion gets the support of legislation from a For Caucus member “we will often get behind that.” With Honor Action also reaches out to the Legion for support on other bills, “like the Afghanistan Adjustment Act, which the Legion has been amazing on,” he said.
Other topics Barcott discussed:
• Mental health awareness. “We need to have actual conversations about challenges people are facing and let them know they are not alone.”
• Volunteering with American Legion Boys State or American Legion Auxiliary State. “It may not feel like you have a lot to offer, but I can guarantee you, there is a lot.”
• The Marine Corps service of his father, who volunteered for the Vietnam War. “He was shot through the face and miraculously survived.”
Listen to this informative and entertaining episode with co-hosts Stacy Pearsall, Adam Marr and Joe Worley. (Meet the two newest co-hosts in this episode.)
In this episode, the co-hosts also address:
• A recent case of stolen valor that you don’t want to miss.
• Why the FDA is fast-tracking a specific treatment for mental health.
• Whether they would re-enlist.
• How to “choose your own adventure” as a member of The American Legion.
Check out this week’s episode, which is among more than 230 Tango Alpha Lima podcasts available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available at the Legion’s YouTube channel.