The Forgotten Oaths: Serving the World, Neglecting the Nation

I just got done reading former CIA Director Mike Morell’s book, The Great War of Our Time: The CIA’s Fight Against Terrorism–From al Qa’ida to ISIS .   (it was good-5 stars)   Now I’m reading Gen. Hayden’s book, The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies (5-star for accuracy, 1 star for most childish TDS whining ever).   Both books talk about how often the US govt chooses to do things that give us bonus benefits by working with the rest of the world; globalism; “National sacrifices for global benefits.”  They contrast that with the need and desire for a more nation focus.

It seems like it was just a few years ago, but it was probably a lot longer than that.  One of my wife’s college roommates came to visit us.  She’s always been a hyper political person (not my wife, but rather her friend), and we’d had some strong “discussions” in the past.  I promised to be good, and I was, and we wound up having a relatively interesting and nice night.

Now, this friend of my wife’s came all the way in from D.C. where she worked with some activist group or lobbyist whatever.  The point is her job depended on the Federal government.  She showed up in a nice car, expensive clothes, and was clearly making money in the nation’s capital.  At the time my wife and I were enjoying the fruits of the Obama economy post-housing crisis, in small town America.  We were quite the contrast.  Her friend even remarked that it had been so long since she left D.C. that she’d forgotten what was happening outside the beltway.

Disclaimer: This lady and I have always disagreed on politics, and she’s certifiably batshit crazy imo, but she also volunteered and spent years in Iraq as an interpreter.  To that end, and for other personal trials she’s survived I will never stop pointing out that she’s one of the bravest people I’ve ever met-batshit crazy politically, but honest to her bones, and Special Forces level brave.  In fact, I’m deliberately not using her name because of her security clearance level.

[Morning coffee foul: I drifted]

The point I was trying to illustrate is that for centuries people have gone off to their state capital or to Washington D.C., and they’ve tried to make a difference.  Please take note: this is completely true for people of both parties, anywhere on the political spectrum.  Most of the time they want to do some sort of good but get stuck working for more power while convincing themselves that doing so is necessary “to do some good.”  They can be a President or a Congresscritter or just another cog in the D.C. machine like my wife’s friend.

Before George Washington was President, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and lots of others went overseas to seek out allies and foreign power that could help in the revolution.  Both men fell in love with France, and vice versa.  However, their first loves were Pennsylvania and Virginia respectively.  There was no United States, no “country” to call home.  This lack of the abstract “country” meant that while they were away-be it in Congress or overseas, they remembered that they were wherever, doing whatever, for their neighbors.

Bit by bit, the world grew, and our country grew, and the balance of objective switched.  Trying “to do some good” for our neighbors became “protecting and preserving our country.”   There were some growth spurts when “The Country” grew fast and strong, but it wasn’t until the Fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War that America’s leaders in business and politics started fully embracing the globalist view instead of remembering what the states they represented needed.

The time has come to re-assess; or to remember.  

535 Members of Congress and someone in the White House who tells Biden what to do, everyone at that State Department, Defense Department, the Intelligence Community, and all the agencies and departments under their umbrella…it seems they’ve all forgotten.  They’ve forgotten that they went to D.C., and they volunteered to go all over the globe “to do some good” for their “Country.”  But when they first dreamed of doing so, did they kick off their careers for the benefit of K Street, and 4-6 major electoral states?  Or did they start their journeys start when they heard Mom and Dad crying about money, mortgages, healthcare, or jobs, at the dinner table, after they were supposed to be asleep?  Did 535 people say, ‘I’m gonna run for office, so I can sit on the Armed Services Committee and push to make all our soldiers, sailors, and Marines rations, plant-based?’  Did someone become a diplomat or a general and live overseas for most of their lives because they wanted to ensure free and fair elections in Bulgaria?

For millions of Americans, “The Country” has become Washington D.C. and the surrounding 11 counties (11 of the wealthiest counties in the entire United States).  Too many DC residents and neighbors, too many politicians, bureaucrats, people who serve overseas have all forgotten what their calling was, their original mission, to serve the country; to protect and enrich the people between Miami, San Diego, Seattle, and Bangor.  Not to help themselves or their friends and co-workers in DC.

So here it is, NEWSFLASH:

Your “COUNTRY” is not fucking Bulgaria!  It’s not Tanzania, or Estonia, or Russia, or Britain, or France, Israel, or Ukraine!

If you have a job-particularly an entire career-working overseas, it’s time to remember that you do not get paid to go to multi-million dollar parties at the Belgian embassy in Paris for fucking fun!  You’re not there for K-street lobbyists, or to grift some money for your bank account, or 1000 other BS reasons.  You are there because there are people in 50 states who need food, housing, water, and medicine.  There is no “National US Interest” in almost any country outside of the Western Hemisphere.  East of Nova Scotia there are no people who will ever do for America what America has done for them.  France helped once, but there’s 10s of thousands of American graves over there as payment of the debt to Lafayette.

The empires of the East are dead.  It’s time to recognize that.  The Russian, Austrian/Hungarian, German, British, and French empires have been gone for 100 years. The Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact have come, and they have gone.  Today’s Russia is a shell of its former self, and barely a shadow of what it was when it was healthy as well as backed by the Warsaw Pact.   These massive threats…they are no more.  NATO can contain what’s left of Russia.  The United States doesn’t “need” Europe.  There’s no reason an American soldier should have to give his or her life over there, anymore.  Allies?  Where were our allies in Afghanistan and Iraq?  No doubt many contributed but sending over a battalion or some Special Forces troops, somehow that seemed to be outweighed by the popular and political opposition.  Spend hundreds of billions to defend Britain and Germany, and never got mission-success.

Millions of DC residents and Americans may work and fight and die for their country, but they seem to have replaced 50 states and 360 million people with a single city and its comparatively small population.  Those millions of people often work hard and sacrifice their very lives for “their country,” but do they remember what that means?  When the NSA sends up another spy satellite worth more than some state’s GDP, is it worth it?  Is it worth more than the people in that state?  When the USN puts out another attack submarine worth more my state’s capital, is it really a better use of Federal funds than say, …feeding the millions of homeless might be worth.  The next time someone at the State Dept sends $600million to ensure free and fair elections in the former republic of Georgia, could we at least match that amount to ensure a free and fair election in our Georgia?

The oaths you took were not Washington D.C. and the surrounding rich counties.  You swore oaths to preserve protect, and defend Streetsboro, Ohio anywhere else.