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I have a bone to pick with a politician named Sean Bielat.

Bielat, a Republican from Norfolk, Massachusetts, wants to be my new representative in Congress. Redistricting has moved my home in Utopia by Bosky Dell out of the old Second District and into the southeastern tip of the new Fourth District, which is being vacated by retiring Rep. Barney Frank.

Recently, Bielat did some campaigning in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, meeting with a small group of potential Republican voters.

According to a Boston Globe reporter who attended the session, Bielat “touted his service in the Marine Corps.”

No problem there. I commend Bielat, whose rank of major in the Marine reserve matches my Navy rank of lieutenant commander (retired). Semper Fi and all that.

However, according to the Boston Globe report, Bielat drew a big round of applause when he said, “I’ll take the Marine Corps over the Peace Corps any day.”

So, here’s my gripe: Why did Bielat find it necessary to put down the Peace Corps?

My oldest son, Warren, followed my footsteps and joined the Navy. His younger brother, Alan, joined the Peace Corps. They served their country in very different ways and I am equally proud of both for their service.

Warren was assigned to a squadron of fighter/bombers, and the planes he serviced were among those that destroyed Libyan chemical weapons facilities in 1986.

Alan taught English to children and made friends for the United States in the islands of Micronesia. Both were honorable missions.

So why the words of disrespect for the Peace Corps from a Republican candidate for Congress?...

Lord knows we’re hearing enough about war from Republicans these days, with three irresponsible presidential candidates practically drooling over the prospect of doing battle with Iran...

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are saying things that undermine President Obama’s diplomatic efforts to keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

Obama has experienced sending our troops off to finish George Bush’s needless war in Iraq and the long struggle in Afghanistan. Obama has experienced speaking with the families of young men and women who were killed in those wars.

The three blathering Republican troubadours have not.

Romney had the nerve to call Obama “America’s most feckless president since (Jimmy) Carter.” My dictionary defines feckless as “lacking purpose or vitality.” Please explain to me how “feckless” describes a president who pursued Osama Bin Laden to his death, helped convince Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak to step aside and led the United Nations charge that brought down Libya’s Colonel Khadafy.

In these delicate times, we don’t need the screeching of hawkish presidential wannabes who have no responsibility for military actions. Someone should remind them that when Robert Gates retired as defense secretary he said that any American leader who proposes another war in the Middle East should have his head examined.

And while we’re on the subject, I have a question for the Republicans in Hopkinton who applauded Bielat’s dissing of the Peace Corps: Do you folks have a problem with peace?