124 Retired Flag Officers 4 Debbie for Student Body President
124 Retired Flag Officers 4 Debbie for Student Body President
Our Nation is in deep peril. We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.
Signatories: 124 (and counting) retired Flag Officers 4 America
So this is about the good people and the bad people. If you are reading this it is more likely than not that you are one of the bad people in the majority whose politics have placed our Nation in “deep peril.” For those who had wondered during the previous presidential administration about the nature and quality of the American military top brass--wondered that is, if the military could be of a mind to support with force an American fascist coup in furtherance of the personal political preferences of those individuals embodying the decisive opinion of the military top brass, the open letter signed by 124 retired admirals and generals, May 10, 2021, has provided some evidence, and raises more questions.
It is quite a letter, and quite a gambit from the self-abnegating super-patriots who signed it, who, having achieved self-validation, overweening self-importance and self-righteousness through their coveted shiny stars, evidently have judged that it would be a good move to trade on the presumed sterling reputation of the top brass of the American military and for themselves to publicly take sides during the most politically polarized period in American history since the Civil War.
However, the gambit involves these noble ex-warriors in the arrogation of public esteem (to the extent that it exists) belonging not to them as individuals or as a cohort of the military top brass considered separately from the whole. Instead, this public esteem (to the extent that it exists,) belongs to the institution of the US military, which in turn belongs to the creators and rightful owners of the US military, the American people. Without the institution of the American military--created by and belonging to the American people--and not just those Americans on one side of the current political divide--who and what are these signatories? Merely 124 Americans with political opinions made possible by a divorce from the evidence and a self-issued license to live in a political reality largely of their own imagination, and who are with this letter attempting to pose in a reflected light of honor to trade on a reputation that does not belong to them and does not accurately describe them. What we do know of them–this letter–is the reverse of honorable.
In the lamentably predictable absence of mainstream journalism investigation into who these retired officers are and what significance they have for understanding the possibilities of military support for any future overturning of the American constitution, let’s assume that the letter signed by the retired admirals and generals will fortify (and maybe drive around the bend) political opinions held by those who believe that the previous president is America’s savior and that “Socialists, Marxists and Progressives” have already begun to use President Biden to “[launch] a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner...” Precious bodily fluids anyone? [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KvgtEnABY]
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According to the assumption we are proceeding on, the letter was written with one audience in mind: those on the one side of the political divide where the truth of the letter’s claims will be eagerly embraced and not skeptically investigated. And, a follow-on assumption of the probability that the letter’s intention is to maintain and intensify the stark polarization of American politics that if it endures may one day provide a pretext for the military to intervene to re-establish whatever it is that these 124 nincompoops believe constitutes, in their words, “Constitutional freedom and liberty.” Whether the individual signatories believe none, some, or all of what the letter says is from this perspective beside this point. The goal of the political operation behind the letter is to exacerbate American political conflict so that it cannot be resolved according to constitutional principles.
But from another perspective it might be useful to understand what the valiant 124 believe. Do they believe the politically childish things they say in the letter? It might well not be a simple matter to articulate. The group of 124 is not monolithic in its beliefs. No group of 124 people anywhere have all the same beliefs about everything. There is human variation within the 124, but there was agreement in signing off on this propaganda piece. They all thought it was a good idea, but their reasoning was probably various. Some of them may believe every bit of what is in the letter, which is disconcerting because it means that it is not unusual to rise to the top ranks of the US military without being able to clearly distinguish between what is absurd and what is probable. On the other hand, some of them, also disconcerting, may know that the claims in the letter are propaganda and largely false, but signed anyway because they know that telling the truth would not be helpful to the cause, and they believe that the end justifies the means. That is, telling political lies to the American people is justified when it serves the end of installing a government that will rescue “the American Way,” as defined by themselves, but in disagreement with the majority of voters in the 2020 presidential election. This group is clearly willing to act against democratic and constitutional principles to secure its private political goals, that is, in true modern American military fashion it is willing to destroy the thing to save the thing.
The letter contains a bullet-pointed list of misleading rhetoric, propaganda and lies on the following subjects:
1) Border control: According to the signatories, but without citing evidence, the US under President Biden has established “open borders,” and “Illegals are flooding our country, bringing high economic costs, crime, lowering wages, and illegal voting in some states.” However, American borders remain controlled: The Border Patrol has not been directed to stand down, and applicants for admission to the US continue to be inspected to determine whether they meet the legal requirements for admission to the US. According to NBC’s Julia Ainsley, “More than 178,000 immigrants were stopped at the southwest border in April [2021], marking a 21-year high in monthly apprehensions, while the number of migrant children crossing the border without their parents fell by 12 percent, according to new numbers published Tuesday by Customs and Border Protection.”
2) The China Threat: Without the slightest explanation or reference to the evidence, we are assured that “China is the greatest external threat to America.” Presumably, the qualifier “external” was affixed to the noun “threat” to remind us that the greatest threat to America is not external, not China, but internal: “supporters of Socialism and Marxism,” the satanic enemy within. Without the slightest reference to reason or evidence, these retired paragons of the American military elite warn that “cooperative relations” with China will only encourage China to attempt to achieve its goal of world domination: Diplomacy? NO. Antagonism of China through “more sanctions and restrictions”? YES. Implication? Spend even more on the US military than the trillion plus already spent on and off the books each year, never mind that US military spending is already at almost 3 times the rate of China’s military spending, a curious short-falling for a China determined to global domination.
3) “Free flow of information”: “Censoring speech and expression, distorting speech, spreading disinformation by government officials, private entities, and the media is a method to suppress the free flow of information, a tyrannical technique used in closed societies.” This sentence gives you some idea of the quality of thought represented throughout the open letter, listing several methods allegedly being used in America to suppress the “free flow of information,” but identifying them with the single epithet, “a tyrannical technique.” Our heroes recommend, in concord with Josh Hawley and the general thrust of professional Republican opinion, that the first step in freeing the flow of information should be to “remove section 230 protection from big tech.” [Section 230 (c)(2) of USC 47 provides civil liability protection for internet entities like Facebook who take action “in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected;”]
4) The “flawed” Iran Nuclear Deal: Without the slightest explanation or reference to the evidence, the 124 propagandists assure us that reactivating the “Iran Nuclear Deal” would result in Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. Further, readers are urged that America must “resist the China/Iran agreement” but without any explanation for why the agreement should be resisted or any indication that the signatories have the slightest idea of what is in the agreement. This is, after all, propaganda, and propaganda of this kind does not invite its targets to understanding through reason, but only to accept what they are being told because those who are telling them are reliably virtuous and can be trusted to always tell the truth.
5) The Keystone Pipeline: Without the slightest explanation or reference to the evidence, the 124 retired admirals and generals arrogate energy independence expertise, claiming that “stopping” the pipeline “eliminates” America’s recently established energy independence. Presented is a formula simple enough for propaganda: Keystone Pipeline=Energy Independence. “Stopped” Keystone Pipeline=Energy Dependence on “nations not friendly to us.”
6) Complaints that critical race theory, political correctness, and using the US military to guard the Capitol Building against a “non-existent threat,” are degrading the military’s ability “to fight and win our Nation’s wars.” Apart from claiming (without intended irony) that critical race theory is “divisive,” and that political correctness in general “damages [the] morale and war-fighting cohesion,” of the US military, our retired sons of Achilles, their heels intact, but knees trembling at the prospect of an honest reckoning with America’s history of racism, present no explanation or the slightest reference to evidence in support of these claims.
7) The “Rule of Law:” Knees buckling with fear, this cohort of retired military geniuses is alarmed by the “anarchy as seen in certain cities” (Black Lives Matter protests) and proclaims that this “cannot be tolerated.” Of course, the proclamation is not accompanied by reasoned explanation or reference to evidence. There is not here, as there is none anywhere in the letter, any mention of January 6, 2021, which leaves quite an elephant in the room for these Masters of Strategy, but evidently the form of propaganda used in this letter is not up to the task of confronting an elephant of this size, who, after all, might get upset and charge our steely warriors. Better to keep quiet about the elephant, they think–but don’t they know? Ignore an elephant in the room and you are provoking him.
8) Joe Biden’s “mental and physical condition.” In September 2020, 235 retired military flag officers, many of them also signatories to the letter under discussion, wrote a letter of endorsement of Donald Trump for president, finding that,
“At present, our country is now confronted with enemies here and abroad, as well as a once in a century pandemic. As retired military officers, we believe that Donald J. Trump has been tested as few other presidents have and is the proven leader to confront these dangers.”
It seems absurd that 235 retired admirals and generals would be willing to sign an open letter confirming their belief that Donald J. Trump is the “proven leader” to confront the “once in a century pandemic,” when the publicly available evidence demonstrates that the proven leader’s inability to care about the lives of others, and to demonstrate competence in dealing with the pandemic caused the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Americans, many of whom were his own supporters.
Although they were remarkably able to ignore worrying signs about the “mental and physical condition” of the previous president, the signatories of this most recent open letter are troubled by what they have observed about Joe Biden, even if they are not quite manly enough to come right out and say what troubles them. They make a general statement that “the mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief cannot be ignored.” This comes across as whispered gossip, not very reassuring issuing from a group posing as heroes seeking, like Superman, to preserve “the American Way of life.” They are heroes you see, it’s just that they’re a little shy about saying what’s really on their minds. Then the 124 remind the American people, “[The president] must be able to quickly make accurate national security decisions involving life and limb anywhere, day or night.” The unspoken suggestion here is that Joe Biden isn’t mentally and physically fit enough to respond adequately to national security emergencies, unlike the previous president who is a “proven leader.” Then the Magnificent 124 mumbles, “Recent Democrat leadership’s inquiries about nuclear code procedures sends a dangerous national security signal to nuclear armed adversaries, raising the question about who is in charge. We must always have an unquestionable chain of command.” Say no more ye modern day Brothers of the 300 at Thermopylae! Innuendo will do in a pinch, that’s what Leonidas said, no?
