Because of the hard left, violence is becoming endemic to our political process. Innocent rally goers were attacked last week in Washington, D.C. Antifa and Black Lives Matter thugs have murdered and assaulted their way across America. Businesses have been burned down and looted. Police officers, ordered by corrupt and Marxist elected officials, have stood down helplessly. This may soon get out of hand.
If it does get sporty in the 1861 sense of the word, where would the US military jump? Now, no sane person wants this to happen. But they also didn’t want it to happen in England in 1642 or in Mexico in 1910. But it did. It happened in those places and could happen here because, as we see right now in this country, two opposing sides are too far apart for compromise. Based on out west coast, the hard left has separated themselves from the basic American values of economic and personal freedom. They have instead embraced a racist Marxism that pits citizen against citizen on the basis of heritage and pigment. This divided national house may only stand so long.
If push comes to shove and it remains merely a civilian and militia show, then it will be over very soon with an American victory over the hard left. But, if the incoming Biden administration tries a move, like gun confiscation, so hard left the states balk, then the military may be called out to enforce federal edicts. The question is: would It?
Military members take an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. Could a division commander or service chief of staff deem a federal law unconstitutional and refuse to back it up? In this analyst’s opinion, yes.
It may come down to unit by unit or branch by branch. As such, there are different political and cultural values within the separate branches that would possibly determine their decisions.
Taking a page from Morris Janowitz, the cultural values of the different branches, which would drive political decisions, would make the sides likely fall this way: The Army and the Marine Corps would refuse an unconstitutional order. The Navy, Air Force, and the Coast Guard would back the elected government no matter what.
The ground services, the Army and Corps, tend to breed a tougher and thus more conservative animal, as the mission calls for it. There are exceptions, like the special operations community, which would overwhelmingly side with the Constitution and against an overreaching federal government. The other services, more technical in nature, recruit different people and thus have different cultures. They are more conformist and would be indifferent to the siren call of an insurrection. Thus, if engaged, the tactical and strategic resources of the various services would obviously determine the outcome of any domestic conflict. How? That’s the subject of another article.