After one of our recent protests, a man identifying himself as a veteran called us “Nazis” and spat that we should serve in the military before we dare to criticize this country. Excuse me? Plenty of us protesters have served in the military. Go talk to Jon Soltz of votevets.org in Boothbay and you’ll get an ear-full. Some of the harshest voices of criticism come from veterans.
I am sincere when I say “thank you for your service”, but if military service were the only thing responsible for giving us our rights, then you’d think that China, Russian, and North Korea would have lots of “rights” due to their enormous militaries, but that is obviously not the case.
And just a reminder for anyone who has forgotten the bloody lessons from 80 years ago: Nazism advocates for the subordination of individual rights — it’s the state über alles. Nazis reject democracy and liberalism and promote a dictatorial leadership. They hate dissent.
So when we protesters are petitioning the Government for a redress of grievances through our freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, we are literally doing the most American thing possible. That’s as far from Nazism as you can get. So what exactly are you talking about?
What bothered me most about the interaction was that this soldier didn’t get how dangerously hypocritical his views were. For him, I guess America should be a place where everyone falls in line behind Trump and toes his party line, no matter how damaging or self-serving it is. Did this soldier heckle protestors who were dissatisfied with President Biden? Did he tell the “Let’s Go Brandon” guys they were a “disgrace?” I sincerely doubt it.
And what does it look like when soldiers silence dissent? Or when the leader is declared to be “above the law?” Or when a President censors the media by literally choosing who is allowed to report on his briefings? Or unflattering movies are stifled? Or when he praises dictators? If you guessed something out of the 1930s, there are a lot of frightening parallels.
So, Dear Soldier, I ask you as a neighbor and fellow citizen: don’t forget your duty. We need your help. All US military personal had to take an oath, and you among them. You took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I will grant you that you also agreed to obey the orders of the President of the United States, but right now, those loyalties are conflicting. What to do when the President himself is the one attacking the Constitution? Checks and balances, the right to assemble, the freedom of speech — all of these things are under attack. I know a lot of soldiers are into the SECOND things (like the second amendment), but I would argue that the FIRST thing in your oath is more important: presidents may come and go, but the Constitution is what endures. And THAT’s what you fought for, and THAT’s what we are fighting for. So come join us. We really are on the same side.