Khalid Mohammed
Retired General Lloyd Austin was confirmed as Secretary of Defense by the U.S. Senate on January 22, 2021, at 11:00 AM. An hour later, he was sworn in as the Secretary of Defense for these United States. Many of my military associates are cheering his nomination and subsequent confirmation. All isn’t as they claim, however.
Austin required a Congressional waiver, as he had not yet been retired from the military for the Congressionally-mandated seven years. I have no issue with that. Congress mandated the seven-year timeout for military members and most certainly has the authority to waive it. My issue with the newly-minted Secretary of Defense is the same one I have with the current crop of military officers, not only in very senior positions, but also the mid-grades. As we know, the mid-grades are the raw material that feeds the selection process for Flag Officers.
(Courtesy of Spenser Rapone via AP)
Back in the day, an Italian Communist by the name of Antonio Gramsci posited that a successful revolution could be effected without a violent civil war by first infiltrating and then ultimately co-opting the basic institutions that underpin successful societies. Once under control, these institutions can be used to modify societies to fit whatever socio-economic model the infiltrators want, without ever putting major armed forces in the field as in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. The phrase ultimately coined for this strategy was:
The long march through the institutions.
In these United States, there has been a steady march of leftist infiltration and hostile takeover of the institutions that underpin the American ideal. Education, Churches, Scouting, and other institutions that are supposed to teach and promote American values have been attacked and infected with a festering rot. Among the institutions so infected, is the American Military.