Rebel of the Week: Corporal Jesse Thorsen, the soldier for Ron Paul who was “cut off” by CNN

Yesterday, the Republican Party’s self-styled Constitutionalist and anti-Fed candidate, Ron Paul took second place in New Hampshire’s primary with 22.8% of the vote. A week ago, when he took the stage to accept the last of what some commentators were calling “only three tickets out of Iowa,” Ron Paul invited Army Reserve Corporal and Afghanistan War Veteran, Jesse Thorsen, on stage to say a few words and finish remarks that he was making earlier that day to a CNN interviewer when the connection was abruptly cut, prompting some Paul supporters online to suspect that CNN might have deliberately cut the transmission.

I’m not sure how all the other networks handled Thorsen’s appearance on the Ron Paul stage after the Iowa Caucuses had concluded, but at the Iowa Caucus watching party I attended that night, my friends and I had the projector on Fox Business (shout out to sound money advocates, Judge Napolitano and John Stossel!) and as Thorsen began his remarks on stage with the Texas Congressman, his audio cut out and a Fox Business anchor’s voice came out of the speakers, saying “We’re going to cut away now for some commentary about the night’s results,” or something to that effect.

A collective chorus of disapproval swept over the room of 50 or so caucus watchers, complete with boos, “Not cool, man!”s, and one remark unfit for print. A couple of us fumbled for the remote to change channels to CSPAN and catch this veteran’s thoughts. By the time the channel was changed, the Army corporal was stepping back from the mic. I turned to the person next to me and said, “Support the troops! Just don’t listen to anything they have to say!” “Right?” she agreed about the hypocrisy of a nation that holds supporting the troops as a sacrosanct duty, but doesn’t seem to want to listen to what the troops support.

Again, I don’t know if it was just Fox Business, or if other networks did the same thing, but the treatment of this war veteran, and I would say, of all America’s war veterans, has been appalling. This week, we would like to honor Jesse as our Rebel of  the Week for standing up for his beliefs and speaking truth to power in a country that seems all too willing to accept his sacrifices, but not his opinions– and maybe not even his right to express his opinions. The New American reports:

But according to some U.S. officials cited in news reports, Thorsen should not have publicly backed a candidate while in uniform. The actions may potentially have even been a violation of a Defense Department “directive” forbidding service members from making “inferences that their political activities imply or appear to imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement.”

And there is a good reason for this policy: to prevent the military from becoming political, though it would be hard to argue that the top brass in the White House and the Pentagon haven’t already violated this key principle for years (decades?) now and used our military for political purposes instead of the defense of the American people from imminent foreign threats. But the policy doesn’t– or at least, certainly shouldn’t– apply to members who are no longer active duty, like Jesse Thorsen, who has not been active duty since October. Serving does not mean you give up your right to ever speak out or be politically active for the rest of your life, even after you’re no longer serving. So what about the uniform?

In an interview with CNN, Lt. Dan Choi, a former Army National Guard member sums it up like this, defending his right to wear his uniform and his pride in it:

“We got a couple thousand, we got a lot of soldiers coming back from Iraq– veterans– and as we move on with our country’s growth and healing, you better believe that they are going to have some opinions. So when you talk about, when you think about this, first of all, for all your viewers, whether they understand the military codes or not, you have to realize that these soldiers– these veterans– fought to protect the Constitution, and when they come back home, whether they’re civilians [now] or in the military, the Constitution still protects them. I can wear this uniform because I am a civilian [now]. I am proud of my service, my entire service, so my entire uniform is what you see and I am very proud of that.

When we talk about moral issues, DADT, or drones, or endless war, Bradley Manning, or any sort of issues that affect our national dialogue, I think veterans should stand up and be very proud of their service to talk about it… When you do something like this and you believe that it’s a moral cause that you’re speaking for, then you should be ready for the consequences. I spoke up and said that I’m gay. I said the truth. I learned that in the code that I will never compromise my integrity.”

For never compromising his integrity, for speaking out about his experiences in wartime, for taking his oath to the Constitution seriously both abroad and back here at home: we are proud to call Jesse Thorsen this week’s rebel!

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