By Major Chase Spears, PhD, USA ret
By this point in the presidential election cycle, most voters have likely come across endorsements of both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris by groups that include retired military generals and flag officers. Such statements assume a sense of respect afforded to senior military rank by many Americans.
Yet those of us who served under the generals also have perspectives on who would make the better commander-in-chief.
As a veteran who retired from the Army one year ago from the middle of the rank structure, I offer that the best candidate is the one who is more likely to disrupt societal deference to a corrupted defense department that has abandoned its Constitutional values and duty.
Our ancestors disliked the idea of maintaining a standing army during peacetime, knowing it could be turned against the populace. Benjamin Franklin warned that a large peacetime army would be “a devouring monster.”
James Madison held a similar position. “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”
Early military officers knew the danger as well. Capt. Alden Partridge, who served as the Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, warned in 1821 that “A standing Army is totally incompatible with the preservation of liberty in any country.”
Former Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower echoed these warnings in 1963, coining the pejorative military-industrial complex.
Yet recent generations of Americans offer the military tremendous deference to operate with near autonomy. We have become accustomed to displays of military power opening our sporting events and visual representations of occupying forces marching in local parades. These are scenes our ancestors would warn us not to cheer, but to eye suspiciously.
The nation’s founders wisely split authority over the military between the President and Congress. The reason was to prevent the President from gaining unilateral power to make war. Yet that has been the tradition of military control in effect since the end of WWII.
We are now in an unbroken seven-decade span during which Congress has abrogated its responsibility to supervise the force. Lawmakers defer to never-ending military funding requests in the name of ‘protecting America’ from a continual litany of doomsday omens.
These supposed daily external threats to America’s existence require not only massive defense contracts to address, but also that our fellow citizens in uniform be rotated on a continual series of overseas trainings and deployments to shore up the lines of other nation-states.
This cycle continues at a time that the U.S. homeland faces continual invasion from across the southern border.
To the globalist-minded generals and admirals running the military, protecting allies overseas takes priority over protecting Americans.
The sacrifices endured by military families to enable U.S. foreign adventurism is unknown—and of little interest—to most of the U.S. public, and apparently even to Vice President, and Democrat Presidential Nominee, Kamala Harris.
Knowing that legal and public accountability are no longer practiced by the Pentagon, the military service branches operate as a law unto themselves. Generals and senior civilian defense officials frequently refuse to cooperate with U.S. House or Senate committees.
Still Congress approves the National Defense Authorization Act and senior officer promotion lists every year. No one on Capitol Hill wants to be accused of being unpatriotic, or risk accusation of not trusting senior military officers who hide their partisan intent behind the virtue of the decorated dress uniforms they wear to these events.
The worst part of this dereliction of duty is that the public, through its elected representatives, turns a blind eye to the growing list of abuses committed against military members. Religious persecution against Christians and ideological conservatives in the force is on the rise. Military training materials label pro-life Americans as ‘extremists.’ This follows on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s nearly four-year ‘extremism’ witch hunt against those who hold to basic moral and Constitutional perspective.
Rather than focusing the military on immediate threats to American sovereignty, the Biden administration directs the military to focus on progressive social change initiatives rather than deterrence against threats to this nation.
Military members who dare question the progressive zeitgeist aloud risk harassment, investigation and retribution. The institution has drifted so far from its purpose that it is working to end the career of Navy reservist Michael Cassidy for the offense of tearing down a satanic statue.
In today’s defense department killing innocent families with a drone strike is a mere regrettable incident, while toppling a cheap memorial to the father of evil ‘undermines morale and reduces combat effectiveness,’ according to the chain of command.
Despite theoretical safeguards that exist to protect their most basic rights of citizenship, military members must rely on outside legal advocacy organizations to defend themselves against tyrannical commanders who have little concern for law, decency, and due process.
The person who serves as commander in chief, the elected representatives who initiate military funding bills, and the senators who confirm defense appointees and officer promotions are relevant to each member of the military on a deeply personal level.
The citizenry and political class have the moral and Constitutional responsibility to hold the force accountable to its purpose of defending “against all threats, foreign and domestic,” as the oath says.
Instead, today we have a force that constitutes a substantial part of the ever-growing national security state, the tactics of which are more in line with the aims of the Chinese Communist Party than American Constitutional virtue.
I like a military discount as much as the next veteran, and genuinely appreciate that today’s generation of Americans treat the troops better than our predecessors were treated during the war in Vietnam. But that’s far from enough during this age in which senior officials across the Department of Defense treat troops who desire fidelity to Constitutional principle as threats from within.
The American people must reject the brass’s insistence that every piece of progressive social orthodoxy forced onto military members informally and through policy equates to an undefined ‘combat readiness.’
Congress must force fiscal accountability rather than continuing to sign blank checks that fund programs hostile to ordered liberty. Americans must do more than offer ‘thank you for your service’ platitudes. They must elect representative who will restore the military to a noble purpose of providing a real defense of the American people.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the military has been transformed into a threat to liberty. A Harris-Walz administration would double down on that transformation, enabling further persecution of Constitutionally minded warriors in the ranks. To empower such a regime would be a betrayal of what our ancestors fought for, and ensure the military becomes an increasingly hostile place for those who love the nation’s founding principles and are willing to place their lives in danger to defend them.
Beyond that, remember that the Biden administration’s weakness gave green light to Russia and Iran to launch major wars in our time. Emplacing Kamala Harris as commander-in-chief would embolden hostile regimes around the world in a time of open war across Europe and the Middle East, conflicts that increasingly risk growing to global scale.
It is America’s military men and women, along with their families, who would bear that cost… a cost that is entirely avoidable.
It’s time to put an end to Pentagon autonomy and elect leaders who commit to reforming the defense department from the top down.
It’s time to elect leaders who will stop signing blank checks for the generals to legacy build.
It’s time to elect leaders that will confirm officers who respect the Constitutional rights of their subordinates and affiliated family members.
It’s time to elect leaders who will put an end to war-making as the top U.S. export. The candidate for president who is closest to that mark is Donald Trump.
If you really want to thank a veteran for his or her service, do more than say it. Vote like you mean it.
Chase Spears served as a U.S. Army public affairs officer for 20 years. Among other pursuits, he enjoys writing about courage, civil-military relations, communication ethics, and policy. Chase holds a Ph.D. in leadership communication from Kansas State University, where his research focused on the political realities of military norms and actions. He can be found on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Substack at @drchasespears.
First published on Real Clear Defense
Opinions expressed by authors and in articles on the STARRS website do not necessarily reflect the views of STARRS.
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