Five hundred West Point Military Academy graduates became the ideological heirs of Robert E. Lee this week. I bet they didn’t even realize it. The Gateway Pundit reports that 500 former West Point grads denounce “politicization” of the military and refuse to defend America against domestic enemies.
Oath of Commissioned Officers #
I [state your name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me, God.
(Title 5 U.S. Code 3331, an individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services)
This is the oath that every Academy grad swears upon accepting his or her commission in the United States Army.
For some, this oath becomes their bond of fidelity to the United States.
For 500 West Point graduates who signed a letter refusing to defend the Constitution against domestic enemies, this oath was nothing more than a formality. (You can see the list of these faithless officers here.)
The betrayal of their oaths recalls Robert E. Lee’s decision to resign his commission in the United States Army to lead the Virginia military in 1861.
Robert E. Lee and His Modern Sons #
Robert E. Lee graduated from the United States Military Academy in June 1825. He took the same oath as the 500 faithless officers who signed that letter yesterday.
Lee could not have known in 1829 that 32 years later, events would force him to choose between fidelity to his oath and loyalty to his home state of Virginia. He could not have imagined, then, choosing between defending the Constitution and perpetuating the institution of slavery, which Lee abhorred only slightly less than he hated abolitionists. Lee was a true Democrat.
Lee chose to break his bond and fight for slavery against the Constitution. He decided to become a domestic enemy of the Constitution.
Likewise, 500 former Academy graduates have chosen. They have chosen the politically expedient and easy path and have renounced their Oaths of Office. They have stated that they would not defend the Constitution against domestic enemies, and they urged this year’s West Point class to mimic their faithlessness–to lie upon their oaths.
The Letter Is Full of Lies #
Men who lightly break their oaths will lie with ease. (Trust me, I am one of them.)
It’s no surprise, then, that the letter these 500 faithless officers penned to this year’s graduating class of West Point is full of lies and half-truths. Its pivotal paragraph, which we will now Fisk, is entirely false, misleading, or meaningless.
Sadly, the government has threatened to use the Army in which you serve as a weapon against fellow Americans engaging in these legitimate protests.
FALSE. The government threatened to use the National Guard to put down riots and looting, not peaceful protests.
Worse, military leaders, who took the same oath you take today, have participated in politically charged events.
RED HERRING. Senior military officers were present at a Presidential act of faith which was politicized by the media and the Democrats. Everything this president does will be politicized.
The principle of civilian control is central to the military profession. But that principle does not imply blind obedience.
STRAW MAN. No one has demanded “blind obedience” to anything. These faithless officers are putting words into their enemy’s mouth.
Politicization of the Armed Forces puts at risk the bond of trust between the American military and American society. Should this trust be ruptured, the damage to the nation would be incalculable. America needs your leadership.
PLATITUDE. Words with little meaning meant to create an emotional response.
That 500 former and current Army officers would so readily lie and sow discord in the Army says much about their character. Were I as wicked as they are, I might even warn that their letter is an invitation to mutiny, which is punishable by death. But I won’t.
A Sad Day for the Military Academy #
Our nation’s military academies have experienced many betrayals and scandals, but I cannot find in history a moment as dark as this one. Never before have so many former cadets conspired to encourage disloyalty among active-duty officers. Robert E. Lee, their patriarch, did not try to recruit his fellow Virginias to betray the United States as he did. Via HistoryNet.com:
[A]pproximately a third of all Virginians who had graduated from West Point remained loyal to the United States. Among the six Virginian colonels in U.S. service in the winter of 1861, only Lee resigned his commission. In short, many Virginians, including some who were very close to Lee, did not abandon the United States during the secession crisis.
For the faithless 500, may history rebuke them the way the “woke” rebuke and vilify their role model, the true Son of the South, champion of slavery, and lifelong Democrat, former Colonel Robert E. Lee.