Just got notified that a post I made on the Air Force Amn/NCO/SNCO Facebook Group page got approved. Today. And the rocket scientists that frequent that page made comments like indicating they don't understand the legal argument (that government officials should not use their official positions to censor others so long as they're doing it on Facebook).
So I edited my post to clue these folks in. Which then resulted in the post being relegated back to the bin of "safety" and again requiring admin approval. The only thing that page is safe from is common sense. At least the admins were quicker about approving the edit though.
That's good. Now un-American nutters that frequent that Facebook page (like Jason Burns) can save their un-American comments where they cheer on government censorship of the speech of citizens it disagrees with. Or, in Jason's case, keep on making it clear why our military is so spectacularly failing the American people.
Posts
Continued: (Google wont let me post my long response) To your point, there should be some sort of personal Constitutional litmus test all those who serve should filter their public opinions through. Clearly, the examples you mentioned would fail it. I’ve probably failed it multiple times myself. I guess I’m making a bit of a concession here, but I was late. Too late.
ReplyDeleteI often think of my life as a decision tree in a three dimensional space. Not just a tree, but a forest of trees. An inconceivable amount of nodes and branches, often running in parallel, crisscrossing, converging, diverging, but when viewed from afar, ultimately resulting in a specific direction. Your life could be viewed similarly. Perhaps you always had an innate ability to identify when the principles of the Constitution were being subtly and overtly violated, but why did you join an institution that was predisposed to the result we now see? Was there a turning point during your service where you realized your preconceptions were wrong? We may not have agreed, but I think the overall directions have led us to perhaps not the same branch, but ones in proximity. You made your series of decisions, I made mine, and here we are lamenting the state of things. What did it matter?
We’ve resigned that it’s too late. Birth, growth, maturation, decline, and death. All things. Inescapable. I’ve loved my country, my way of life, and the principles they were founded upon. History of full of eulogies and panegyrics from great men who loved their country that no longer exists. I’m prepared for the grieving process that will eventually come, but then I want to move on to the next thing and perhaps an opportunity to do things better than I did before. If I can survive the transition.
Later
When I was commissioned I was already a black-pilled small-L libertarian. My goal was to get my wings and then to serve as a faithful public servant. My worldview was that better men from harder times had gifted us with an opportunity to live in an imperfect but great nation, and serving that nation (its ideals and its citizens above the government) was a fair trade for a paycheck and the greatest job I could conceive of. Flying military aircraft had always been a life-long dream of mine.
ReplyDeleteBut I didn't realize how bad it would get. After 9/11 I was dismayed by the emotional, vitriolic, and irrational response from my countrymen. Not questioning motives, chest thumping, no introspection. Still, two days after that attack, I volunteered for the more aggressive version of our beloved airframe in the hope of getting justice and protecting guys on the ground.
I was deployed to AFG when we got the advanced word that we were going to pack up for Iraq. We hadn't even gotten OBL and it was clear the government was lying about Iraq, WMD, and it was then that I realized our military was controlled by bad actors for bad ends. That realization has become become even more undeniable as our nation now resembles the society of an Ayn Rand novel in its level of absurdity.
There will be no happy ending, no acceptable transition, and no throwing off the yoke. Not in our lifetimes and likely not ever. I'm just thankful I'm old, got to live free, made the choice not to snatch a soul out of the ether and thrust it into flesh to face this thresher, and I'm happy I can die knowing I did what I could to protect the gift greater men handed down to me. The sacrifices of the Founders, Dr. King, Malcolm and other great Americans required me to do my limited part to try to make our nation a more perfect union in my small way.
That's good enough. Anyway, thanks for the note. Much nicer than some of your other contributions in other venues. LOLOLOL.