NYTimes: Elites Neglect Veterans

A troubling issue in our society is the growing disconnect between the elites of our society and those who serve. In this recent New York Times column - and the New York Times is about as elite as it gets - Frank Bruni points out that our best colleges and universities have very few veterans. I would not have thought that there were many, but the huge disproportion surprised me. This is troubling on many levels. The duty to serve and to defend our nation should not be one that can be subcontracted. For all our talk of diversity, the reality is that those at these elite universities overwhelmingly come from advantaged backgrounds. I suppose you would not necessarily expect a huge number of those folks to serve, at least not in the absence of a draft, but it appears that in their higher education they are not even likely to ever meet a veteran. It is not hard to see how this does not bode well for the long term health of our society.