The Levin Letter: Support for Our Marines Is Not Partisan or Performative
One of the greatest honors of my seven years in Congress has been serving the Marines and families of Camp Pendleton. They are the best of us. They serve with discipline and humility. They stand watch in every time zone so the rest of us may sleep in peace. Their families carry the weight of sacrifice that most Americans will never fully understand.
That is why the conversation about how we support them must be grounded in truth. Recently, a Letter to the Editor in this paper claimed that if a member of Congress like me does not vote for every version of every funding bill labeled “defense,” then that member does not support our Marines. Anyone who knows anything about Congress understands how wrong that is. And anyone who has spent time with military families understands how deeply unfair it is to reduce their lives and sacrifices to political talking points.
Supporting our Marines is not a slogan someone earns by voting yes on whatever is placed in front of them. It is the work of ensuring that Marines and their families have safe housing, reliable child care, strong pay, quality medical care, accessible mental health services and real opportunities when they transition to civilian life. That work is neither partisan nor performative. It requires patience, honesty and attention to detail.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I know well that major military appropriations bills often include unrelated policy provisions that would harm readiness, cut housing funds, delay pay or reduce medical staffing. When a bill includes provisions that would make life harder for Marines or their families, I work to change it. And when it cannot be changed, I refuse to rubber-stamp it simply because someone slapped a patriotic label on top.
That is not opposition to the military. That is protecting the people who serve from being used as leverage in unrelated political fights.
The claim that anyone in this community would knowingly jeopardize the well-being of Marines is not just untrue. It is corrosive. It trades on patriotism to score points. And it does so at the expense of the very people who already bear the heaviest burden.
When we reduce complex issues to slogans, we do not defend the military. We diminish it. We turn the uniforms our neighbors wear into stage props. We convert service into symbolism. That is not patriotism. That is performance.
Real support is quieter. It looks like repairing mold-damaged base housing so children are not breathing toxic air. It looks like expanding mental health counselors so Marines returning from deployment are not left to struggle alone. It looks like building more child care capacity so spouses can work without fear of losing stable care. It looks like improving transition programs so those who served can build meaningful careers here at home.
These are the kinds of investments I have fought for year after year. And I will continue fighting for them because that is what real support looks like.
We are a community defined by decency, responsibility and shared sacrifice. We owe it to ourselves — and to the Marines who live among us — to reject cheap theatrics and demand serious, fact-based conversation. We may disagree on many issues. That is democracy. But we should never allow the well-being of military families to become ammunition in a political argument.
So, let us move forward together. Let us insist on truth. Let us honor service not only with words at parades but with steady, thoughtful policy that strengthens lives in real ways. And let us always remember that the Marines who stand guard for us deserve a community that stands guard for them.
They serve with integrity. We owe them the same.
By: Rep. Mike Levin
Source: Picket Fence Media