The Constitution Under Attack

7 June 2020

(The following was written by a friend and Active Duty Air Force Officer who must remain anonymous for obvious reasons)

Reasonable Americans all oppose the abuse of power and are horrified by its sometimes deadly consequences, most saliently demonstrated in the Minneapolis case involving George Floyd and Derek Chauvin last week. This event should -- and does -- upset us all. It's worth mentioning that the abuse of power by unbridled authority is what originally triggered the War of Independence and ultimately gave birth to the Constitution and the political-legal system that protects our collective and individual Liberty. Vigorous opposition to such abuse is a fundamental aspect of American history, culture and character

         The ensuing arrest of Derek Chauvin and the other three officers who each had an independent duty to protect George Floyd should instill confidence that the system works, and that suspects -- including police officers -- will be arrested upon probable cause and face prosecution with evidence of their crimes.

         We must recognize and acknowledge that the American legal system is the fairest system of law and procedure in the history of human civilization. It is not perfect -- as humans are imperfect -- but it's the closest to perfect that has evolved in any nation, anywhere, ever.

         The American legal system is also the basis for peace, order and prosperity in these United States. Its preservation is essential to the survival of our nation, and pluralism – the exchange and competition of ideas – is essential to its function. That is why the American legal system is adversarial at its core: it is structured to settle disputes by weighing opposing facts and interests, to give the accused the opportunity to a fair trial, and to bring justice to victims who are wronged.

         I am encouraged that Officer Chauvin and his fellow officers were arrested and stripped of their authority based on probable cause that they were responsible for Mr. Floyd's death. I am also satisfied that they will receive a fair hearing in an American court, and believe that both they and Mr. Floyd's family will receive the justice they deserve. ... But I know that this can only happen if we adhere to an open and fair process where all the facts are considered and weighed, because I know that ideology, bias, and emotional passions tend to undermine justice in the absence of process.

         In this respect, we must all be committed to justice, and recognize that only a system that preserves the adversarial, pluralistic and deliberative process will achieve that result. We must do so without reservation.

         It is often observed that Americans are united not by race, tribe or clan, but by commitment to the idea that America is an exceptional nation.  Moreover, what makes it exceptional is that America is a nation ruled not by men but by law -- a law based in fundamental truths that unalienable rights are instilled in us by our Creator, including Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

         Among such rights is right to assemble peacefully and petition the government for redress of grievances. So fundamental is that right that it was included in Article I of the Bill of Rights, which was  ratified in 1791 and renumbered as the First Amendment. We should all be ready and willing to exercise this right and protect others' right to do so when necessary. We should also be ready to arrest and prosecute those who feloniously incite the assembled to violence, mayhem, arson and murder, as well as those who embrace the incitement and commit such acts. And, if those who feloniously incite such violence are, in fact, domestic enemies like Antifa, the full weight of our government – too include the military – ought to be brought to bear upon them to quash the threat.  Remember, the oath of office includes the words, “to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

         A majority of Americans are unreservedly committed to Ordered Liberty and the Rule of Law. They have unbendable moral fiber and are virtuous, honest and empathetic. They consider themselves Americans first, are untethered from tribal loyalties, and prosper through hard work and industry rather than political patronage or criminal enterprise. Contrary to the incessant claims of shrill voices that dominate the decidedly endless anti-American news cycle, a majority of Americans are also nonracist, and viscerally recoil at the scene of a police officer pinning a shackled suspect with a knee to the neck long after his unlawful resistance has ended.

         Americans are not ignorant of the fact that slavery survived the Revolution and continued to benefit the wealthy few in the Antebellum South (and many in the North as well), or that its vestiges contributed to an informal caste system in certain geographical and cultural pockets where racism continued to be  cultivated until a half century ago. Yet it goes publicly unacknowledged that even before the Revolution and up until today, the majority of Americans always opposed -- and continue to oppose -- slavery, racism and the denial of equal rights.

         Racism exists, but only among the fractional minority. It is not endemic to our society, culture or institutions. The abuse of power exists as well, and will always be exercised to the detriment of the powerless. Yet racism and the abuse of power are not one and the same and should not be conflated, even when extremists, anarchists or opportunists encourage us to do so by leveraging genuine concern over human rights to inflame passions and incite the mob.

         In the extended period of riots, looting, and arson that have gripped our country since a cabal of well-funded, organized, professional agitators took to the streets to incite mob violence, their enablers in the media, academia, sports and entertainment industries have had the luxury to smugly stand back and admire the product of their efforts, to include billions of dollars in damage, the desecration of churches and synagogues, the defacement of national monuments, the maiming of innocent bystanders, the abuse of animals, the wanton destruction of the environment, and the murder of police officers.

         Nothing justifies these crimes. While Americans are sympathetic to victims of racism or the abuse of power wherever it occurs, they are also deeply troubled by the polarization and abject hostility fueling the conflagration that now jeopardizes our Republic. They are also increasingly suspicious of the powerful interests and alliances leveraging inordinate influence in our media, academia, and purportedly religious institutions to sow the rotten seeds of division among The People.

         Even our military institutions are not immune to this malign  influence. Clearly responding to the riots engulfing our nation this week, some of the most senior leaders in the Department of Defense patently ignored the vandalism that "protesters" inflicted on the National World War II Memorial and instead took up the cause of the Social Justice Warriors, issuing declarations and statements and condemnations of one sort or another.  To illustrate, it came as a shock to many current and former airmen this week when the two most senior Air Force officer and enlisted leaders appeared to accuse America generally – and the Air Force specifically – of  institutional racism. In the many decades that these men have worn the uniform, literally millions of Americans of all races, ethnicities and cultures have served. The vast majority left the Air Force with not only a strong sense of pride and satisfaction, but fondness for the institution. Many had successful and even stellar careers.  

Few of those veterans would agree that the Air Force or America suffer from institutional racism, and only a fractional minority are themselves actual racists. Yet these two senior leaders seem insistent that the festering infection of institutional racism plagues our nation and the Air Force. Perhaps it's naivete, but one must ask exactly how it is that these men flourished in the U.S. Air Force over the course of many decades in uniform and rose to the very top while a culture of racism swirled around them. If they are to be believed, then institutional racism arguably inflected the results of every decision they ever made and every action they ever took.

         As Air Force leaders and others in DoD now denigrate America and their respective military departments, Social Justice Warriors who have been elected to civilian offices around the country are currently pledging to defund police forces, reduce personnel, and ban the private ownership of firearms. As roving mobs attack police, set fires, and loot stores in American cities where gun-banning policies are traditionally the strongest, communities where gun ownership is  broadly embraced have been left largely unscathed. While photos of burning cities and carefully curated "peaceful protesters" dominate the mainstream media, photos of armed citizens protecting their homes, businesses, monuments, and even protecting the police, are  prevalent in the alternative media, attesting to the virtue of an  armed, responsible citizenry.

         The right to keep and bear arms is so fundamental a right that it was included in Article II of the Bill of Rights and renumbered as the Second Amendment. Memes about the legitimacy of private firearms ownership now flood social media, circulating among a large tract of society that still believes in America and the promise of the Constitution. Meanwhile, dominant social media companies are becoming cognizant of the power and influence their technologies hold. These platforms are so ubiquitous that their nearly universal use has arguably provided voice to those who would otherwise not be heard, and in doing so has democratized the internet. They are, in essence, a vehicle for freedom of speech, similarly enshrined in the First Amendment.

         It is no surprise then, that the largest social media companies are censoring, deplatforming, and shadow-banning users who disagree with their views and dare promote American exceptionalism and individual responsibility. Large social media companies are exclusively owned and operated by remarkably wealthy men and women of decidedly globalist political orientation. They are rich, powerful and influential beyond the comprehension of most Americans, whom they regard as "the little people." They also routinely express disdain and condescension toward the principles of Ordered Liberty, self-governance, and rugged individualism. 

Like most of the rich and powerful throughout history, they hold authoritarian ideas about how society should be ordered and are inclined to use their wealth to impose their views. They owe no loyalty to America, its institutions, or the Constitution, and certainly have no qualms about limiting the speech of consumers with divergent political views. They fly around the world in private jets to various homes scattered about the globe, rubbing elbows with other rich and powerful people who generally share the same dislike of individual Liberty and have the same lack of national loyalty that characterizes Silicon Valley.

         Meanwhile, as social media companies censor, deplatform and shadow-ban Americans who hold traditional views, these same companies allow and arguably promote the pages, posts, articles and memes of those who manufacture outrage to incite the mobs and wage a multi-front war on America. Many of their self-appointed "fact-checkers" and censors are closely aligned with the very same groups whose members have been inciting riots at ground zero, and are further associated with subversive organizations that benefit from the generous financial support of other remarkably wealthy globalists who include one Hungarian who shall remain unnamed.

         Americans are generally and rightly upset at the treatment of George Floyd and his death Minneapolis, yet the majority hold faith in our legal system and the rule of law. Meanwhile, a cabal of well-funded, professional agitators saw the opportunity to set spark to an enormous pile of dry tinder they've successfully built for years, and seized on the event to launch an enemy information campaign of devastating effect. With their foot soldiers on the ground, they incited the mob and the mob responded. As America's cities were burning and her national monuments were vandalized, even top military leaders were not immune from the malign influence of that remarkably successful campaign, turning on their own country and their own institutions.

         The Republic is now in jeopardy and Liberty is in peril. Those who do not read the papers are uniformed; those who do read the papers are misinformed. Steadfast commitment to Liberty and the Constitution is the only thing that will keep America free. Negotiating the incessant, anti-American propaganda of the mainstream media and bringing critical thinking to alternative and social media is key.

         Americans should grieve for George Floyd's family, but have faith in the system, and support their local police. The vast majority of officers are good, decent, hard-working members of the community who are there to protect Americans, and frankly they do a good job of it often against otherwise insurmountable odds. At the same time they grieve, however, Americans must remain ever vigilant. Rioting and iconoclasm are clearly not the answer, and left unchecked they will destabilize the nation. This, of course, is their ultimate goal. If the globalists are successful and the Constitution is supplanted, the treatment of George Floyd will pale in comparison to the horrors of anarchy and the genuine police state that replaces it.