There’s a ray of hope for the many American voters understandably frustrated by the hyperpartisanship and toxic political environment that was on display during the Senate’s recent Supreme Court nomination hearings for Brett Kavanaugh. With the kind of grandstanding we saw from senators like New Jersey’s Corey Booker, Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal, New York’s Charles Schumer and Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono, who were attempting to delay the vote, it shouldn’t surprise us that a Marist poll earlier this year had public confidence in the Congress at a woeful 8 percent.

The partisan divide in Washington has inspired the organization “With Honor,” which is focused on helping elect veterans to office who will work in a bipartisan way. On its website, “With Honor” points out how the hyperpartisanship has become so divisive that leaders can’t even talk to each other.

Therefore, they are supporting veterans from all backgrounds — whether Republican, Democrat or Independent — who pledge to work together to get things done regardless of political party.

According to a Gallup poll released just before our last Memorial Day, Americans are more confident in the military than any other institution. The professionalism of the military and the “importance of what military does for the country” are reasons for the higher confidence level.

For much of the second half of the 20th century, veterans dominated our elected leaders in Washington. Pew Research Center revealed that just 40 years ago, they made up 81 percent of the Senate and 75 percent of the House membership.

There has been a steady decline of veterans in Congress in recent years and their representation is now near a historic low of 19 percent in Washington.

The group With Honor requires veteran candidates to take a pledge to put principles before politics and to support and defend the Constitution. The foundational goals of the pledge are built on these principles:

Integrity: Candidates vow to always speak the truth and prioritize the public interest above their own self-interest; to return or give to charity contributions from sources that they find out would taint their integrity; and to use the power of the office only for the service of their constituents and the country.

Civility: To respect their colleagues, focus on solving problems and work to bring civility to politics. They vow to publicly reject, and seek to remove, any advertisements in support of my campaign that lie about or baselessly attack the character of their opponent; and attend and participate in a cross-partisan veterans caucus.

Courage: To defend the rights of all Americans and have the courage to collaborate across the aisle and find common ground; to meet with someone from an opposing party one-on-one at least once a month; and join with colleagues on both sides of the aisle on at least one piece of major legislation each year, and co-sponsor additional pieces.

Lt. Col. Amy McGrath, the first woman to fly an F/A-18 fighter jet in a combat mission for the Marine Corps, is a Democrat running in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District this November. She believes the time is right for the With Honor movement since voters are looking for “people who served their country, not their political party.”

She says her training as a Marine led to her decision to run for public office, explaining that the Marines taught her to step up to the plate and be the one who says, “Put me in.”

Richard Ojeda, a former state senator and Iraq War veteran, is running as a Democrat for a House seat in West Virginia. Upon returning from war, he was shocked to see kids that have it worse than the kids that I saw in Iraq and Afghanistan. When I ask myself, what did my brothers die for? They didn’t die for this,” he said in a campaign rally earlier this year.

“I’ve led men in combat,” Ojeda stated. “I’m not going to let somebody claim to be a leader when they don’t even have no sense of what that word means. And that’s why I got into this.”

Compare these exceptional candidates to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, one of the leaders of the Democratic resistance movement who stated that proceeding with Kavanaugh’s nomination would “forever stain the Supreme Court.”

It was Blumenthal who made false and misleading statements about serving in Vietnam. After being exposed, Blumenthal stained his own reputation by insisting that his misrepresentations — we call them lies — were “totally unintentional.”

Integrity, courage and civility. These should the capstones for anyone seeking a high office like the U.S. House or the Senate. Hopefully, the midterm elections will be a wake-up call for those charlatans intent on obstructing and dividing in defense of their party loyalties.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com