......A great read and lends lots of insight to the privileged elite of that time ... and how VASTLY different the silver-spooners of that day are from the pathetic bunch we see in Washington. Unlike BO and his boys, these young men saw it as a responsibility of their privileged upbringing to serve (in the REAL sense of that term) our nation.
First off, I don't think you could say the current President had a 'privileged' upbringing. Secondly, service overall has declined among the greater population and that is reflected by our political leaders, t
he current members of Congress who are veterans is at the lowest point since World War II. It isn't just limited to one party either, none of the four men running in the last presidential election were veterans. But even at that low number our political leadership does still serve, the percentage of veterans in Congress is still higher than the general population with veterans constituting 19% of the current Congress is veterans while only about 9% of the adult population in this country has served (
22 out of
240 million adults). The two most senior cabinet secretaries in the current administration are veterans as well. So yeah, even some of the folks in Washington have served in uniform too.