TANCREDO: There Once Was a Dream That Was America

By: Tom Tancredo

The fall of Rome has as many alleged causes as there are historians who have written about it. One common theme, however, was perhaps best expressed by writer and historian Becky Little:

“Imagine a world in which political norms have broken down. Senators use bad faith arguments to block the government from getting anything done. An autocrat rigs elections and gives himself complete control over the government. Welcome to Rome in the first century B.C.E. The republic that had existed for over 400 years had finally hit a crisis it couldn’t overcome. Rome itself wouldn’t fall, but during this period it lost its republic forever.”

So what happens now, when the so-called leaders of the United States of America tell us that our constitutional Republic and the Constitution upon which it is founded are corrupt, racist, and unworthy of our devotion and allegiance? 

And what happens to our heretofore peerless military when its so-called Commander in Chief orders its members to be spied upon, and all their actions and communication on or off duty be screened so that they can purge anyone who exhibits unacceptable attitudes such as love of country, appreciation of its greatness, concern about encroaching tyranny, or even respect for his predecessor?

Attacks on American history, traditions, and exceptionalism have been underway for years, but they became flagrant a few short weeks after the January 6 Kerfuffle at the Capitol, when President in Name Only (PINO) Biden tasked the intelligence community with spying on Americans to see if they had these “extremist” proclivities. His Secretary of Defense of the Revolution (SDR), Comrade Lloyd Austin, ran with it and ordered a 60-day “stand down” so he could convert our military bases into re-education camps and ferret out those who resist the brainwashing. 

Soon after the PINO was inaugurated, the left-leaning publication Intercept reported that the Pentagon now has an “extremist steering committee” that is under the direct control of the SDR. Its purpose is to develop programs to “continuously” scan military personnel for “concerning behaviors.” The task of creating the software and doing the monitoring has been farmed out to a private vendor to get around the constitutional requirement for warrants that the government must obtain when it wants to spy on its own citizens. 

The ideological cleansing is in full swing. The most recent example: the summary “execution” of Space Force squadron commander Lt. Colonel Matthew Lohmeier because he dared to oppose the DOD agenda of promoting Marxist theory within the armed forces. He was relieved of his command by “superior” officers who might as well have waved copies of Mao’s Little Red Book as they accused him of being divisive and exhibiting partisanship within the ranks. What deliciously critical dialectic: Opposing Marxism in the military is divisive and partisan, but promoting Marxism in the military is… not. 

“I don’t believe I was being partisan,” Lt. Commander Lohmeier said in his defense to Fox News. “It is not politically partisan to expose or attack Critical Race Theory or Marxism. The reason I say that is because Critical Race Theory and Marxism are antithetical to American values. Critical Race Theory fuels narratives that attack America’s founding documents.” 

The purpose of any nation’s military is to protect its people, property, and borders from any threat. Our soldiers, sailors, and airmen must be ready, willing, and able to kill people and break things – and die themselves – to preserve and protect the USA from enemies foreign and domestic. In order to accomplish those two tasks, they need to be united in their effort and share the belief that the Republic and Constitution they defend are worthy of their blood, sweat, and tears. For us, the Republic was created by the men who wrote the Constitution and the patriots who fought and died to establish it. Everyone who enlists in the military takes an oath to protect and defend that Constitution – and by extension, our Republic. 

So here we are, a nation now divided and uncertain about who we are – or even what we hold dear. Maybe it is the natural course of history that nations rise, prosper, and then decline in some sort of immutable way. Even a cursory look at history adds credence to that view. 

Like Rome, our Republic is fragile. In the movie Gladiator, Marcus Aurelius opines ruefully: “There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper, and it would vanish. It was so fragile.” Political corruption eventually destroyed the Roman army and, with it, the ability to defend the Republic. The military always reflects the society from which it springs. History is indeed repeating itself before our eyes. 

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