Uneasy lie the souls of hundreds of thousands who rest entombed in the cemeteries of Arlington, Gettysburg, Normandy, Flanders Field, Luxembourg, Ardennes, Punchbowl, Lorraine, Meuse-Argonne, and North Africa or are enshrined in battle monuments at Guadalcanal, Saipan, Papua New Guinea, Busan South Korea, Morocco, Cabanatuan Philippines, and thousands of places known and not. And not to be forgotten are those consigned to oceans deep for whom no markers bear witness. For restless are they whogave the last full measure of devotionthat an ideal might be fostered. That ideal was the notion of America. America was both a place and an ideal, imperfectly formed, yet conceptually-striving to do better. For decades that notion served the world as the bright shining beacon on the hill only to be dashed in one fell swoop with the election of a wannabe authoritarian.
For the interred souls, warriors all, their philosophical bent, be it liberal or conservative, mattered not. It was loyalty to the Constitution, and the framework of America, that bound them inextricably and forever. Now they lie betrayed by a political cult defined by fealty toward one and preservation of their own political ambitions.
Many of these betrayers are known and have names: McConnell, Graham, Cruz, McCarthy, Rubio, Jordan, Hawley. And there are many others enmeshed in the Republican National Committee (RNC) that failed the Party and the country. As supplicants bending knee to the threats and whims of a petty would-be monarch, the old RNC, the party of values and laws, folded unrecognizably.
Then too there are the lesser-known, insignificant twits such as Gaetz, Greene, Boebert, Gohmert and hundreds of others who voted to overturn democracy, supported conspiracies they knew to be false, or as a minimum were complicit in silence when duty arose. When America called, the restless souls gave their last full measure of devotion, while these betrayers failed America and gave none. Instead, the betrayer’s actions serve to corrupt the very foundations of our democratic republic.
As if in a somnambulistic trance do millions tread, seemingly unaware that the firmament beneath their feet has shifted inextricably and transitioned from the venerable loyal opposition to an unrecognizable personality-enamored cult. Largely misguided by fact-free rhetoric, tens of millions of Americans have likewise turned their backs on our fallen comrades, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. Should we forgive them, for in ignorance they know not what they do? For them, ignorance is a blissful state. It is impossible to say whether those hundreds of thousands of restless souls are willing to forgive, as there is no plausible reason for them to do so.
Today pseudo-patriots abound. Fear-driven, they constitute an existential threat to democracy. Wrapped often in the flag, they pledge allegiance to an individual, as they yearn for a time that never was. Quintessentially manipulated, this cult repeatedly creates nonexistent threats and then doth profess the measures to quell those mythical beasts. Cerebral context is not the long suit of the American population and the mob rule easily engendered and exploited.
Today, that abysmal cult continues to excuse the inexcusable and perpetuate actions that undermine the very foundations of the democracy that put them in power. For 30 pieces of silver are they, and their supporters, willing to relinquish all vestiges of honesty.
Of grave concern are the numerous former military members who gleefully took up arms to engage in an insurrection coordinated and designed to overthrow the most sacred of our democratic freedoms. There are those who have become elected officials, such as Dan Crenshaw, a veteran SEAL severely wounded in combat and professed conservative. Conscientiously conflicted, Crenshaw expressed condemnation of Trump’s words and actions during the January 6 Insurrection. Yet, when it came time to vote, remotely he chose not to convict. Words are easy, but behavior is believable. For his expressed honesty, Crenshaw was castigated as a RINO by his fellow cult members.
Currently there are a number of former military officers and NCOs running for public positions and courting the endorsement of their disgraced leader. Clearly, to curry favor they are prepared to forsake their oaths to the Constitution.
As storm clouds gathered, visible to all were the authoritarian tendencies and conflicting loyalties. Emotively have hundreds of the most senior, combat-hardened warriors ventured forth and expressed their grave concerns for the state of the nation. In 2020 they published a public letter delineating their thoughts. Attempting to work within the system, Jim Mattis and Mark Esper assumed the mantle of Secretary of Defense, only to find their position supporting the Constitution untenable under that administration.
Mark Esper’s thoughts are available in his insightful book, A Sacred Oath. Based on firsthand observations, the exploits he witnessed should scare any of the recalcitrant flag officers amaurotic enough to have signed a letter supporting Trump. Unfounded and irrational, that letter was merely RNC talking points capitalizing on emotional fears of decades past but demonstrating that even experienced officials are vulnerable to exploitation. Too many, have fallen for the spell of a con artist who believed “his generals” should demonstrate the blind characteristics the German officers showed Adolf Hitler. Ignorant of history, Trump was oblivious to the fact that several of Hitler’s top officers tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him. Still Trump’s demand for personal loyalty, over that to the country and our Constitution, is alarming, irrefutable and indelible.
A renowned SEAL, Admiral William McRaven, an architect of the raid that eliminated Osama bin Laden, presciently penned a poignant letter clearly articulating the clear and present danger to democracy. Very recently a public letter was published signed by eight former secretaries of defense and five former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents) specifically elucidating the need for the Department of Defense to remain apolitical, while reminding all current and former members of the military that their loyalties lie to the Constitution and not any individual or political party. It is shameful that such pronouncements are necessary, but reality dictates they are. ‘Tis not of differing political philosophies these sage pundits warn, but rather threats to the foundational principles of our democratic form of governance.
Discarnate and mute, 44 times did those souls bear witness to the willing and peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next, a process for which they had selflessly fought and died. Stoically they observed one, the 45th, who branded them “losers and suckers,” and who cowardly ran from the field, disgraced himself, the country, and their heritage.
Across the facile Potomac,fromJohn F. Kennedy’s Eternal Flame the view of democracy grows dimmer by the day. And yes, those souls there interred are restless, for they now must ask, for what purpose?
