Sad Day for America

It’s a sad day for America when all ten of our living former Secretaries of Defense feel compelled to release a letter saying the election is over, Biden has legally won, and the military should NOT be used to intervene in the election. Think about the American reality that prompted such an op-ed piece

In their letter, they take great pains to point out that they, and those in the military have sworn “an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party”. Seven of the ten signers are Republicans, or served under Republican presidents. Two of them, Mattis and Esper, served under President Trump.

These ten men have differing views on the direction of America, but none of them believe in any one person holding sway over the Constitution. Their belief is in The United States of America itself. That they wrote and published this letter says volumes about where we are in America.

Looking across our country right now, I am disheartened at how many of my fellow citizens have taken up the “cause” of one man’s misrepresentations and lies.

There has been much written about cults, causes and movements here in America. While cults were originally thought of in regard to religious activities, the definition has expanded to include devotion to a person, idea or movement. Arthur Koestler, author of Darkness at Noon, wrote about people who convert to cults and causes. At the time, he was writing about his own conversion to Communism, but it could be about any cult, movement, or cause:

“To say that one had “seen the light” is a poor description of the mental rapture which only the convert knows (regardless of what faith he has been converted to). The new light seems to pour from all directions across the skull; the whole universe falls into pattern like the stray pieces of a jigsaw puzzle assembled by magic at one stroke. There is now an answer to every question; doubts and conflicts are a matter of the tortured past – a past already remote, when one had lived in dismal ignorance in the tasteless, colorless world of those who don’t know. Nothing henceforth can disturb the convert’s inner peace and serenity – except the occasional fear of losing faith again…”

There are now so many cults, causes and movements here, people have published warning guides about them. Compiling lists from several articles, the signs to look for include:

• The leader/group is always right and the exclusive means of knowing “truth”. No other process of discovery is acceptable or credible.

• Although there may be outside followers, there’s usually an inner circle who follow the leader without question.

• Cults typically oppose critical thinking. There is no tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

• Typically cults exploit their members….often financially.

• The idea that if you leave the cult, horrible things will happen to you. There is no legitimate reason to leave – former followers are always wrong in leaving.

Sound familiar at all?

We, as Americans, need to look past any one person, past any one president, and look to the future of this country. Americans have never sworn an oath to only one individual and never should. I take heart that these former Secretaries, and people like Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, continue to do the right thing. America will weather this storm and grow from this experience. It will be because people, not Democrats, not Republicans, but Americans, did the right thing.

Addendum:

You can read the full text of the former Secretaries’ statement here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/10-former-defense-secretaries-military-peaceful-transfer-of-power/2021/01/03/2a23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html?fbclid=IwAR1MmpArgZ8vQ41ljU1tCYsEFHmRA6m-B1QZtXbeqU0tWDFqZ7Gf2FVTPFE