Love and the Lightning Rod

When I was in Afghanistan the first time, my boss (a full colonel), was an alcoholic and an adulterer.  I’m what he might call a “Bible Thumper,” and it soon became apparent that he  didn’t care for me too much. However I can  say he shared something with me that I thought was exceptionally insightful.  It came right after he disclosed his intent to fire me (or more precisely, relieve me).  What the Colonel said that I believe is very perceptive was, “Oftentimes a leader becomes a lightning rod; the unit members direct all their negative energy and frustration at the leader, fairly or not.”  In spite of the fact that he eventually got a young, female soldier pregnant, was later fired for being AWOL during a drinking binge, and his actions against me were overturned by the Department of The Army, that was a very astute observation.

There is good reason why leaders can become lightning rods – they make decisions and implement policies that affect our existence. For better or worse, leaders, like families have an inordinate influence on our lives.  Healthy marriages create healthy families.  Healthy families create healthy neighborhoods.  Healthy neighborhoods create healthy cities.  Healthy cities create healthy states.  Healthy states create a healthy country.  Why in the world would any leader want to upset the very foundation for a healthy nation?

On January 30, 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt underscored the importance of marriage in a message to Congress, “The institution of marriage is, of course, at the very foundation of our social organization, and all influences that affect that institution are of vital concern to the people of the whole country.”  Make no mistake, marriage matters.

 As mentioned in my last column, Obama advisor David Axlerod said in his book Believer: My Forty Years in Politics that Obama “misled” Americans about marriage.  Why the need for deception?  As a candidate for president, Obama told Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church that marriage could only extend to heterosexual couples.  “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman,” Obama said. He continued, “Now, for me as a Christian — for me, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.”  Me too, Mr. Obama, me too.  However, unlike God, Mr. Obama changed – or as he said, “evolved.”

Why not a man and a dog? A woman and a cat? A man and his car? A man and multiple women?   Back in the 1880’s, the Territory of Utah had a problem with Mormons and polygamy.  The problem was so disturbing that President Grover Cleveland addressed it on December 8, 1885.  In his First Annual Message to Congress he declared, “The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love. These are not the homes of polygamy.”

Regarding the necessity for a mother, President Cleveland continued, “The mothers of our land, who rule the nation as they mold the characters and guide the actions of their sons, live according to God's holy ordinances, and each, secure and happy in the exclusive love of the father of her children, sheds the warm light of true womanhood, unperverted and unpolluted, upon all within her pure and wholesome family circle.”

Unlike what we see in “Married With Children” or “The Simpsons,” Cleveland knew the value of fathers, and the value of a family that only a mother and father can form.  He told Congress, “The fathers of our families are the best citizens of the Republic. Wife and children are the sources of patriotism, and conjugal and parental affection beget devotion to the country. The man who, undefiled with plural marriage, is surrounded in his single home with his wife and children has a stake in the country which inspires him with respect for its laws and courage for its defense.”

Being a devoted Mom or Dad is not easy, especially in a culture and country where anything goes.   If President Cleveland recognized the importance of traditional marriage back in the 1800’s, how much more so is it now?  In closing, I’ll confess I’m in agreement with what former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, ironically, not exactly a practitioner of traditional marriage, said about the issue, “I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.” 

The Lord is my Shepherd; the Terminator is my lightning rod.

This article appeared in the 25 FEB 2015 Upson Beacon.

"I Cannot Tell a Lie"

This week we celebrate President’s Day.  George Washington, our first President and Commander-in-Chief said, “I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”  

In the military, we have high ethical and moral expectations of our fellow servicemen and, even more so, of our commanders, to include, maybe especially, the Commander-in-Chief.  Trust is the glue that holds organizations together.  It’s impossible in words to express the contempt a soldier has for someone, especially a leader, who will lie to them.  This is embodied in West Point's Cadet Honor Code: "A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."  

I was a captain in the 75^th Ranger Regiment when Bill Clinton became President.  The third stanza of the Ranger Creed says in part, “I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong, and morally straight.”  It was impossible to be unaware of the “bimbo eruptions” -- ultimately highlighted by the scandal involving his dalliance with his subordinate, Monica Lewinsky.  My thought was always, “if he would do that to his wife, what would he do to me?”  I’m sure Mrs. Clinton is a royal pain, but still – he took the vow.  “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”  The DNA evidence said differently, Mr. President.  

The irony: Clinton lied to the entire country and kept his job; a General was fired for telling the truth. The New York Times reported in June of 1993 on an Air Force inquiry finding that “Major General Harold N. Campbell called Mr. Clinton a "dope-smoking”, “skirt-chasing”, “draft-dodging” Commander-in-Chief in a speech last month in the Netherlands.”  In fact, we also knew that Bill Clinton loathed us.   While in England as a Rhodes Scholar, Clinton wrote a letter to COL Eugene Holmes of the University of Arkansas ROTC department thanking him for, “saving me from the draft” and explaining his “loathing the military.”  Sadly, we knew that what the general said was completely true.  Nevertheless, Clinton lied; the General fried.

Shift now to our current Commander-in-Chief.  We all know politicians say things in order to get elected, but principle can only be compromised so much before one is rightly regarded as “unprincipled” or worse, a flat-out liar.  In the military, one of the most disparaging comments that can be made about a leader is to say, “He’s a politician.”   According to a recent Military Times survey of almost 2,300 active-duty service members, “Approval of Obama — never high to begin with — has crumbled, falling from 35 percent in 2009 to just 15 percent this year, while his disapproval ratings have increased to 55 percent from 40 percent.” 

David Axlerod, the Obama political campaign strategist, and later, senior White House advisor, in his new book Believer: My Forty Years in Politics writes that Barack Obama misled Americans for his own political benefit when he claimed:  a) If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor; b) Benghazi was the result of a video; c) There is not a smidgen of corruption at the IRS; d) Yemen is a success; e) The border is secure and deportations are higher than ever; or f) None of the above?  If you guessed f, you’re correct.

Time magazine reports, “Axelrod writes that he knew Obama was in favor of same-sex marriages during the first (2008) presidential campaign, even as Obama publicly said he only supported civil unions, not full marriages. Axelrod also admits to counseling Obama to conceal that position for political reasons. ‘Opposition to gay marriage was particularly strong in the black church, and as he ran for higher office, he grudgingly accepted the counsel of more pragmatic folks like me, and modified his position to support civil unions rather than marriage, which he would term a sacred union’.”  As a candidate for president, Obama told Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church that marriage is only for heterosexual couples,  “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.”

King Solomon, purportedly the wisest man to ever live, said, “Eloquent lips are unsuited to a godless fool— how much worse lying lips to a ruler!”  Frankly, I’m not sure if 85% of the military doesn’t like Obama’s difficulty with honesty, his policies, or both.  Maybe Ben Franklin was on to something when he said, “Honesty is the best policy.”

As young George said, “I cannot tell a lie.” What we really need now is a Washington in Washington.

Sheep, Wolves, and Snipers

Over the last two weekends, I’ve seen two great films -- Unbroken and American Sniper.  Regarding WWII and Unbroken, I am grateful for those men that took up arms in defense of our nation and our way of life.  Admiral Chester Nimitz, describing the courage displayed by US Marines on the island of Iwo Jima declared, “uncommon valor was a common virtue."  What a tremendous testimony to the tenacity of those men.  They were one of the Greatest Generations. 

 

Turn now to the current war, formerly known as the Global War on Terror by our last real leader, and referred to now as an overseas contingency operation, or workplace violence (if you are killed by a terrorist at Fort Hood), by our current  president.  Regardless of what it’s called, another generation of the greatest Americans, guys like Staff Sergeant Salvatore A. Giunta, Staff Sergeant Leroy A. Petry, and Sergeant Dakota Meyer, to name just a few, have risen up to follow in their forefather’s  footsteps.   

Another one of the post-9-11 generation heroes is Chris Kyle, the American Sniper. A scene in the film depicted young Chris at the family dinner table.  His brother had been involved in a bullying incident at school that day.  Their father tells his two young sons an allegory about prey, predators, and protectors.  “There are three types of people in this world: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs,” their Dad starts. “Some people prefer to believe that evil doesn’t exist in the world, and if it ever darkened their doorstep, they wouldn’t know how to protect themselves. Those are the sheep.”    

He goes on with the lesson, “Then you’ve got predators -- who use violence to prey on the weak. They’re the wolves. And then there are those blessed with the gift of aggression, an overpowering need to protect the flock. These men are the rare breed who lives to confront the wolf. They are the sheepdogs.”   

While the movie reminds us Chris Kyle was clearly a sheepdog extraordinaire, it also portrays him as a man who bore the emotional scars of traumatic stress and the attendant challenges of reintegrating into civility and home life.   Virtually every veteran of Enduring and Iraqi Freedom could relate to the great degree of difficulty in readjusting from a protracted state of hyper vigilance to a land of the free and the home of the over indulgent.  A nation of seemingly indifferent and unconcerned; in spite of the occasional “thanks for your service” – ostensibly oblivious to the ongoing dangers still being faced by their brothers that they have left behind in theater.    Whether this allegory was actually shared by Mr. Kyle with his sons is immaterial – the lesson was learned and Chris lived it out accordingly.  

The allegory of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs was made popular by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Tom Grossman, in his 2008 book, “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society.”  In it he recounts where he got the allegory, “One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: ‘Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident….’”  Grossman concludes, “Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.  "Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf." 

This reminded me of what Jesus said 2,000 years earlier, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”  You can see that Jesus said there is an enemy that even a sniper’s scope cannot discern.  He said there is a ravenous wolf that dresses like a sheep, which can only be recognized by the fruit they produce.

My hunch on what the fruit of that sheep-dressed wolf might sound like if he were speaking at a prayer breakfast:

“ISIS, you’ve been busy beheading and burning hostages, raping and maiming, don’t worry, you’re in good company – after all those crappy Christians did it too.”   

Source:  https://miscellany101.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/sheep_clothing.jpg

This column was published in the 11 FEB 2015 Upson Beacon. 

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The Ostrich Has Landed

Ronald Reagan famously said, “It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”   I must admit that when it came to ostriches, I was like a liberal.  Why ostriches?  Based on discussions over the last several days with more than a few people, it left me thinking of that old anecdote about the ostrich sticking his head in the sand.  In other words, intentional ignorance was their approach to information.  They’ve deliberately decided that “no news is good news” -- choosing to not be knowledgeable.  Willfully choosing to remain ignorant, in my opinion, is just plain un-American.   In fact, our Founding Fathers believed if enough Americans were ignorant, there wouldn’t be an America at all.  The ostrich-like approach of many of our fellow citizens is downright dispiriting.

It is my duty as the Colonel of Truth to present facts, in this instance, about ostriches.  Using National Geographic as our source, I’m pleased to report that, “the flightless ostrich is the world's largest bird. Although they cannot fly, they can sprint up to 43 miles an hour.  Their powerful, long legs can cover up to 16 feet in a single stride.”  But what’s relevant now is that ostriches do not actually bury their heads in the sand.  The misconception originates with one of the bird's defensive behaviors – you see, “at the approach of trouble, ostriches will lie low, pressing their long necks to the ground in an attempt to become less visible. Because their plumage blends well with sandy soil, from a distance, it gives the appearance that they have buried their heads in the sand.”

Click "Jaywalking" for a short but interesting video.

Maybe the ostrich should become our new national bird.  One only needed to watch an episode of Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” segment polling Americans on current events and what should be common knowledge to recognize the unbridled and unashamed ignorance on full display.  There is a term kids use nowadays to describe the humiliation one senses observing the segment – “secondhand embarrassment.”  Their fifteen minutes of fame is frittered away becoming an infamous fool – frankly, it’s pretty painful to watch.  

So why do I care? Thomas Jefferson said that liberty and ignorance cannot coexist.  In 1816, Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."   One has to wonder why we would think that two hundred years after Jefferson’s utterance that we’d suddenly become immune from the ignobility of ignorance.  Benjamin Franklin warned us that if we exchanged liberty for security, we’d soon have neither.  How much more foolish, then, to voluntarily surrender liberty to stupidity? 

Winston Churchill was clearly prophetic when he proclaimed, “If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”  In a nationwide survey several years ago, more teenagers knew the names of the Three Stooges than knew the three branches of government.  The correlation of age, knowledge, and party affiliation that Churchill points out was proven again last year in an Annenberg study titled, “From ISIS to Unemployment: What Do Americans Know?”   It proved that ignorance isn’t just bliss; it’s also an indicator of party affiliation.  Their conclusion, “Republicans tend to do somewhat better than Democrats overall.”  Some specifics; “Republicans are 16 points more likely than Democrats to answer the Common Core question correctly (58% vs. 42%). And 57% of Republicans identify the oil industry as a primary driver of growth in North Dakota, compared with 42% of Democrats.”  Concerning the present Prime Minister for Israel, the Republicans were nine percent more likely to know (46% to 37%).

James Madison, a Founding Father and our fourth President, gave us both the antidote and the prognosis of passing on the prescription for power.  Presciently Madison predicted, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.  A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both”   Madison makes clear that not only is knowledge power – it is the only sure way that the people can prevent tragedy.  Sadly, much of the mainstream media only promotes propaganda that advances their agenda.

Perhaps like the ostrich and my liberal friends, you too can find bliss by burying your head in the sand.  

After all….”What difference does it make?” 

This article also appears in the 4 FEB 2015 edition of the Upson Beacon.