The Myth of An Apolitical Military

A century ago, the Progressive leadership of the Democrats seceded philosophically from the Founding Principles of the American experiment Rejecting natural law and unalienable individual rights, they embraced the State as the arbiter of a ‘common good’ and government by the State as preeminent over individuals, regulating personal liberty bestowed by government to support the state-defined ‘common good.’ 

Founded upon Woodrow Wilson’s paradigm of a “living constitution” with law making by judicial fiat or Executive Order and day-to-day governance by an unelected, unaccountable, administrative state, Progressives have mounted a Second American Civil War by a long march through the institutions of governance, education, culture, commerce, and more recently science and the military, their Grand Strategy to incrementally subvert the Madisonian Constitution and the Founding Principles it was designed to protect. Their strategy is supported by tactics of lawfare, carefully calibrated civil violence, and institutional subversion. 

Americans sense that things have gone wrong, but their perception is fragmentary, focused on individual issues that inhibits understanding how multiple related issues subvert constitutional governance. Shellenberger and Boghossian’s “WOKE RELIGION: A Taxonomy” demonstrates the scope/interconnectedness of fronts in the war for the soul of the American republic.

Progressives have mounted legislative, judicial, and executive programs to compromise essential elements of Madisonian governance, replacing it with a philosophy that seeks to divide and conquer.  In much of public life and discourse that philosophy is embodied in Critical Race Theory and allied movements, implemented via programs of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  This ideology has captured our military to the detriment of focus on readiness and lethality.  By experience, the authors focus on military happenings and the danger to the nation. It is important to not lose sight of this battle as part of a greater strategic effort to subvert the Madisonian Constitution and the Founding Values it was designed to protect.

By functionally choosing sides and thrusting the military into a conflict pitting our founding values against progressive ones, the Civilian & Uniformed leadership of DoD has made a fiction of the principle of an apolitical military that has been the basis of civil-military relations since the mid-20^th Century. Reducing readiness, lethality, morale, and recruitment, the military has been transformed. Racial quotas replace merit; ground combat unit effectiveness is degraded by lower standards to assign women; mandatory LGBTQ+ pride celebrations harm morale; individuals are placed in limited duty status and provided transitional surgery reducing unit readiness; and climate change is embraced as an existential crisis and top DOD priority.  The fight for the soul of the military has not only devastated morale and military effectiveness but eroded public trust and confidence in the U.S. Military. At 70% in 2018, it was 46% five years later according to a recent Reagan Institute survey.  Much of American youth no longer wish to serve, indoctrinated by public schools with revisionist anti-American works like the “1619 Project” and “How to be an Antiracist”.  Staff and students at our service academies are given these works as recommended reading, with no balancing viewpoints.  The Progressive ideology embraced by the military alienates the prime source for recruiting, young people brought up with traditional patriotic values. They now stay home in droves creating a severe recruiting crisis.

CALL TO ACTION:

The authors embrace the viewpoint of President Ronald Reagan,

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Citizens of like mind must stand up and fight for the soul of the nation, our liberties, and the preservation of our Constitutional Governance.

Armed Forces Officers must return to the promises made when they took the Oath of Office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. 

Citizens, Officers, Retirees and Veterans must remind DOD that “just following orders” has never been a defense of the indefensible, whether it be DEI as a putative need or alleged benefit with respect to military effectiveness, or subversion of the Constitution and the values it protects.  EEO is the law of the land and mandates equal treatment. Orders/indoctrination that are counter to that are not lawful orders.

Serving Flag and General Officers must repudiate the politicization of the military, resigning if necessary.

Retired Flag and General Officers must acknowledge the active politicization of the armed forces and Constitutional subversion, stop hiding behind the myth of an “apolitical military,” and LEAD in defense of the Madisonian Constitution and the founding values it protects.

Medical and Legal Professionals must challenge DEI indoctrination as an unethical form of thought reform; the application of psychological manipulation without informed consent.

Citizens must Fight Back against Critical Race Theory and DEI programs aimed at destroying American Constitutional Governance.

• Understand CRT/DEI
• Challenge CRT/DEI under the law
• Build grassroots resistance
• Build broad coalitions
• Get the word out to peers and representatives
• Engage Churches
• Confront woke institutions
• Stand up to Big Tech censorship
• Monitor Federal, State & Local agencies to oppose taxpayer subsidies to organizations hostile to America
• Develop alternatives to DEI training.

Recall the passage George Washington had read to the Continental Army at Valley Forge on the eve of their battles at Trenton and Princeton:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

Thomas Paine, The American Crisis Number 1, December 19, 1776

Our Navy’s core values are Honor, Courage, and Commitment.  We need to restore honorable action in our Armed Forces.  We need to show Courage to emphatically tell the nation and its leaders that we are on the wrong course.  We need Commitment by DOD to restore the Armed Forces to their traditional values and eliminate divisive identity politics that weakens us and makes us vulnerable to defeat at the hands of our enemies.

If citizens stay silent, traditional values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment are undermined and the Progressive enemies of Constitutional governance win. 

SILENCE IS CONSENT!

Phillip Keuhlen is a retired naval officer and nuclear industry senior manager. He was educated at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School and had the privilege to command USS Sam Houston (SSN-609), a nuclear submarine. He writes on topics related to governance and national security. 

CAPT Brent Ramsey, (USN, Ret.) has written extensively on Defense matters. He is an officer with Calvert Group, Board of Advisors member for the Center for Military Readiness and STARRS, and member of the Military Advisory Group for Congressman Chuck Edwards (NC-11).