Thursday, June 14, 2012
Silent Obedience
What a powerful historical context tool this gives Oath Keepers--including one to paint their so-called "liberal" critics as the cheerleaders for tyranny that they are. [Read]
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2 comments:
"Oath Keepers brings together military personnel who agree to resist unlawful orders."
We were taught in basic that disobedience of a "unlawful" order was not only the right thing to do, it was expected.
We had a lot of late night political discussions in the barracks. Especially since when I was still living in the barracks Watergate and Nixon resigning was big in the news.
I, too, was taught in basic training that I did not have to obey an "unlawful" order. The problem is that while the Uniform Code of Military Justice contains articles detailing the punishments for failure to obey the orders of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, nothing in the UCMJ gives any guidance as to what might constitute a lawful or unlawful order. The only way to find out if a given order was lawful or not is by court martial - where the ones deciding upon the lawfulness of the order in question are members of the selfsame power elite threatened by the disobedience in the first place! If that isn't the very definition of a "damned if you do; damned if you don't" scenario, I don't know what one would be.
We have to understand that rebellion is always against the law. Pretty much any violent opposition the the existing power structure is illegal. When the founders wrote in the Declaration that free men have a right, nay a DUTY to "alter or to abolish " any government which "evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism", they never said it would be either legal or easy - OR SAFE!
I have little doubt that the people who participated in either the Whiskey or Shay's rebellion believed with all their being that those words applied to them. Unfortunately that did not stop the new government from putting those rebellions down through force of arms. Rebels are, indeed, traitors, after all - UNLESS THEY SUCCEED! Then they are heroes and "Statesmen".
I have spoken with many active duty service men and women since I first heard about "Oath Keepers". I have met a few good, honest, intelligent people who could not conceive of the chain of command giving them an order which violated the constitution. Further, their trust in their leaders was such that even if they WERE given an order which SEEMED to conflict with their personal understanding of the Constitution, they considered that the conflict would only arise from their not having the complete picture. Those people were senior NCOs and mid-level officers.
When the rebellion comes (like the author of that brilliant piece on creative uses for tampons, I believe it truly IS "when" not "if") there will be a large number of good, decent, honest, honorable men and women fighting for the government. Bet on it!
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