IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH

I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.

[OCS: It is ironic that Mattis says “We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers,” ostensibly referring to the organized anarchists, opportunistic criminals, and others that are injuring innocent civilians and causing massive physical and financial damage, yet the politicians, media, and progressives are distracted by the illegal actions of four Minnesota police officers.]

When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.

[OCS: Perhaps Mattis should note that all politicians and sworn personnel take the same oath. An oath that is violated daily by progressive socialist democrats in their quest for perpetual political power and the rise of a new “authoritarian” state built around “Democratic Socialism.”

What troops? If he is referring to President Trump crossing the distance between the White House and a venerable house of worship set ablaze by rioters – not so-called “protesters,” it was a symbolic gesture meant to say that the American people will not cede our cities to rioters, looters, and those who do not wish us well. As for being accompanied by members of the Administration, this is a show of solidarity – not a threat to the decent citizens of the United States who are now fearful of being in public lest they or their family members be viciously attacked.

As for a photo-op, let us remember that it was the media who endlessly claimed that President Trump was "hiding" in his bunker. The visible appearance suggests that Trump is not hiding, but hard at work.

Perhaps Mattis should have taken the time to read the “Statement from United States Park Police acting Chief Gregory T. Monahan about the actions taken over the weekend to protect life and property.” In which Monahan notes “51 members of the USPP were injured; of those, 11 were transported to the hospital and released and three were admitted,” not to mention the desecration of many of our most revered monuments.]

We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.

[OCS: Unfortunately, when civilian law enforcement is overwhelmed, Governors turn to their respective State’s National Guard. But what of the progressive Governors who order law enforcement to “stand down” and refuse to activate the Guard while people are being threatened and property being destroyed?

Other than military leaders like Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and General Mark A. Milley with their leg-humpers, there were no troops in the area, only National Guard, the Secret Service, the Park Police, and civilian law enforcement. No tear gas was deployed, as claimed by the media, it was non-lethal pepper spray used in a defensive posture.]

James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.

Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

[OCS: Perhaps Mattis forgets that we were united in a cause when the nation went to war. Unlike today when the battle is political and one side tacitly supports the chaos and violence to disadvantage the opposition in the upcoming election. To say we are better than our politics is to wear blinders when it comes to progressive socialist democrats.]

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.

[OCS: I can only conclude that either General Mattis is blind and stupid, which he clearly is not, or he is or has become a progressive socialist democrat. Otherwise he would have noted that former President Barack Obama and his Administration was the most racially divisive force since the Southern Democrats dominated politics.

Moreover, he would have observed that the Democrat Party thrives on identity politics, dividing Americans (and illegals) into aggrieved classes of victims who are promised a redress of their real or imagined grievances in return for political power. Since most of the hardest hit areas are governed by Democrats, one wonders what real choice do citizens have to “fix” existing problems when the vote Democrat?] 

We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.

[OCS: Hide behind your “historic quotes” while pretending to be a student of the constitution – but the fact remains, the President’s actions in the park were a symbolic message to those of us beleaguered and at risk from anarchists, rioters, arsonists, looters, and murderers – that there is someone our side that will not cede our communities, states, and our nation to the self-loathing, power-mad fifth column which seeks to destroy America from within.

Amazingly, Mattis quotes Lincoln who would have not allowed this type of rebellion to occur without severe reprisals. ]

Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.

[OCS: Has the General not noticed the historic abuse of power during the Obama Administration? Has he not noticed that the progressive socialist democrats believe our Constitution should be a “living document” adapted to the politics of the present day? It would be nice to return to constitutional conservatism, but doing so means the rejection of the progressive socialist democrats – something they and their complicit media will fight with every tool at their disposal.]