A desire to continue defending the Constitution is another factor spurring veterans to seek political office.
Veterans and a military spouse running for Congress say they have been motivated to seek political office in response to the Pentagon’s handling of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and out of a desire to continue their service to the country.
Mara Macie grew up in Massachusetts, working for a family business until 2006. She married Navy Seabee, Ted Macie, who is now an active-duty Navy Medical Service Corps officer. Lt. Macie is a whistleblower responsible for disclosing that incidents of myocarditis were on the rise in the military due to the COVID-19 vaccine. In 2020, the Macie family moved with their four children to Florida.
The Hatch Act of 1939 prevents federal employees from engaging in political activities. If service members cannot engage in politics, she told The Epoch Times, “this leaves spouses of active duty servicemembers to step up to the plate and be the one to defend them, their freedom, and the Constitution.”
And for this reason, Mrs. Macie is running for U.S. Congress for Florida’s 5th District for a second time, having fallen short in the Republican primary against incumbent Rep. John Rutherford in 2022.
Mrs. Macie said she witnessed “the failure of our Congress” firsthand when her husband and other service members reached out to their Representatives in opposition to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s 2021 COVID-19 mandate for the military, which has since been rescinded.
However, she said, “many of those servicemembers were ignored, and most were told that there was nothing that could be done, which led to lawsuits, servicemembers being separated from the military, and disillusionment in our community.”
There’s also something intrinsic that keeps Mrs. Macie motivated to run for office. “I am a proud descendant of veterans, dating back to the Revolutionary War, and come from a big family of police officers, [and] I value truth, honesty, and integrity above money and self,” she said.
“And if our founders were willing to selflessly die to secure our freedom and success, so am I,” she said. “I cannot knowingly leave our children a country in worse shape than I inherited it.”
By J.M. Phelps
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