The Military Myth

Why the military does not protect your freedom

One of the primary stories at the foundation of American culture is the idea that the military are the heroes protecting our freedoms. They put their lives on the line, and valiantly head oversees to protect us from foreign enemies. Heroes of the highest degree, without which we would lose every freedom and liberty we build our lives around.

Except it’s a myth.

The military does nothing to protect your rights and civil liberties. They protect the integrity of the state.

Civil Liberties

You’re civil liberties aren’t at risk overseas. They are at risk here, at home, as the Trump administration is making abundantly clear.

Freedom of speech, of press, to protest, of religion, the right to privacy…

All of our fundamental liberties are guarded and protected by the information professionals: the teachers, the journalists, and the librarians. It should surprise no one that the administration is currently attacking—and has for a long time—the information professionals. It’s textbook fascism.

The information professionals have the skills, vocabulary, and education to spot propaganda, call out fascism, and document when our civil liberties are being undermined, eroded, and outright obliterated.

When the library is shuttered, you don’t have freedom of thought. When protests are quelled, you don’t have the freedom to criticize power. When schools are defunded, you don’t have the ability to understand what is being taken from you.

But let’s focus on the military.

Civil Religion

I met my husband when we were in Air Force training, although I was medically discharged before I could get operational and get on the job. My parents are both retired National Guard members, my cousin was a marine, and my grandfather was in the Navy during WWII.

I grew up deeply embedded in, and completely surrounded by, the nationalistic identity that accompanies the US military. I want to make note of where I’m coming from before I say what comes next:

Military members are extremely prone to right-wing propaganda and deception.

I highly recommend googling “civil religion.”

Humans love rituals. Rituals give us a sense of normalcy and predictability, especially in turbulent times, but they don’t have to be religious. It can be anything from getting ice cream after school on the last day before summer break or having a pizza and a movie night once a month.

Rituals feel stable. Consistent. Familiar. It’s a niche of the human psyche that organized religion is very good at tapping into.

Civil religion exists in the overlap between ritualistic practices and national identity. It’s usually secular by nature, but can be supported by religious institutions and revolves around using civic symbols in ritualistic ways.

Flag folding ceremonies, the National Anthem at sports events, the idolization of the Founding Fathers…. When you think of “American pride” at least one of those symbols is going to pop into your head.

America has a strong civil religion. One of it’s most powerful aspects is the hero worship of military members who are believed to be propping up all of those other symbols and rituals.

That’s our military myth.

It’s very easy to manipulate people through symbol and ritual.

When my kid was in first grade, she had her fist Columbus Day lessons at school. I prepped her beforehand so she understood the real history behind Columbus and when she got to school, she told her teacher that Columbus was responsible for a lot of terrible things. Her teacher responded with, “I don’t think that’s true.”

My kid said the most profound thing I have ever heard:

“When a person becomes a symbol, the real history gets lost.”

My kid is the weird one that reads philosophy books for fun.

She was spot on.

(They teach a much better history now.)

In our desire to protect our own civil religion, we lose sight of the actual history. We lose sight of what our military is for, but military members also lose sight of themselves. Veterans and active duty members are extremely susceptible to right-wing propaganda and extremists sentiments because of how much propagandists prey on the symbols of our civil religion.

To drive home my point, veterans and active duty personnel constitute about 7% of the total US population but they made up 20% of the Jan 6 insurrectionists.

They swore an oath to defend the Constitution from “enemies both foreign and domestic.” An oath they take very seriously. It’s not hard to sway them from looking at enemies overseas to enemies on the homefront.

Identity plays a significant role in deception. It is extremely easy to pinpoint an identity marker on someone and then whisper in their ear, “You are being attacked. Look how they respond to your symbols. They are the enemy.”

That isn’t to say there are not honorable people among the ranks who see through the bullshit. There very much are or Trump would never have needed to purge the top brass from the Pentagon or fire the JAG (military lawyers). Those are the people responsible for ensuring military actions and orders are inline with the Rules of Engagement (ROE), the Law of Armed Combat (LOAC), and international law.

Basically, the military had the infrastructure in place to ensure constitutionality is maintained within the ranks but Trump is eroding all of those safeguards.

Which is something a dictator does right before they use the military to do something very, very illegal. Like turn the troops against targeted domestic enemies.

Because the military does NOT protect your freedoms.

They protect the integrity of the state.

Over and over again, we have seen Trump erode the institutions that are designed to protect your freedoms and civil liberties.

When a dictator secures authority over the military without any form of oversight, we are looking at Game Over.