Old Warriors, New Mission

The mission of every soldier, indeed every American of sound mind, ought to be to realize the consent of the governed. Ex military personnel can lead us in this common purpose.

Source: Avery Cocozziello.

Nonviolence is an active force of the highest order.
It is soul force or the power of the Godhead within us. —Gandhi

The older I get, the more I realize ex-military personnel are indispensable to the West’s Liberal Renaissance. Ten years ago, I might have uttered, “Thank you for your service.” Otherwise, I would have ignored this group.

But I was wrong.

I would have ignored veterans because I assumed they see all matters through the lens of command-and-control hierarchy and blind obedience to authority. But I’ve gotten to know too many of them since.

Veterans get three major things better than anyone:

1. Freedom is almost always why they choose to become fighters, not “our democracy” or lip service by the political class.

2. Authority should be viewed with suspicion because authorities will lie and use us as milk cows or cannon fodder.

3. Only counterpower can check power. Since power involves the threat of violence, counterpower also involves the threat of violence.

And that latter point is why a robust liberal doctrine should not be pacifist, even though liberal counterpower is asymmetrical to authoritarian power.

Ways of the Warrior

First, ahimsa—nonviolence—is an active, daily practice that modern liberals (free people, not progressives) should integrate more fully. Virtue demands that we not only renounce harming others—i.e., consciously making an innocent person worse off—but also orient ourselves around ahimsa in thought, word, and deed.

In other words, we must practice being peaceful.

Society has arisen out of the words of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking.
Peace and not war is the father of all things. —Ludwig von Mises

But some must also train to protect, retaliate, and lead. Like Shaolin monks, they practice peace but prepare for war.

Ahimsa doesn’t entail pacifism.

If nonviolence is the conscious and continuous practice of creating peaceful conditions, whether in oneself or one's immediate sphere, defensive readiness is still vital. Ahimsa ripples out from the peaceful spirit and invites others to participate, but there will always be those who seek to take advantage of the innocent. They are our enemies. We must be ready to defend ourselves and sometimes retaliate.

Though there are always risks in meeting force with force, Buddhist psychiatrist Paul Fleischman believes our protectors and peacekeepers must ask themselves the following:

Can you do this task as an upholder of safety and justice, fo­cused on love of those you protect rather than on hate for those you must kill? If you are acting with vengeance or delight in destruction, then you are not at all a student of Dhamma. But if your hard job can be done with a base of pure mind, while you are clearly not living the life of an enlightened person, you are still able to begin walking the path towards harmony and compassion.

Many military veterans, who have both witnessed and inflicted violence, have had to return to civilian life and transform themselves into parents, teachers, and mentors—despite living with martial habits and truly fucked up memories. Yet it is because of their experience, their scars, and their leadership capabilities that they are so well-positioned for the coming renaissance.

When they enlisted, they were willing to kill and die for freedom. Even though they now see through all the lies, venality, and corruption, that doesn’t mean they are no longer willing to die for freedom. They have friends, family, and posterity to fight for. 

It’s the way of the warrior.

Of PTSD and Purposelessness

Too many vets came out of errant military adventures in the Middle East with PTSD and other mental health problems. One of the main pathologies was the inability, upon return, to reorient around a purpose that was personally fulfilling and bigger than the self. Many found their former raison d’etre had been based on lies shrouding the ambitions of evil men. Return to civilian life was rudderless. Some found comfort in psychedelic therapies that turned out to be healing breakthroughs. But many just needed a new mission.

Today, that mission is clear.

The enlistment oath still has meaning:

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

When the soldier must choose between fidelity to the Constitution and loyalty to authority, there can be no contest. The Constitution comes before the Commander in Chief, officers, and the Uniform Code.

Freedom before functionaries.

Today, veterans have to ask themselves what the oath means. In other words, there are as many domestic enemies as foreign ones, and those domestic enemies staff the highest echelons. Ex-military personnel must stay on high alert and remain committed to defending the Constitution and the doctrine of freedom upon which it is built. Most veterans have learned that blind loyalty to men who do not share their commitments has made them meat puppets of the military-industrial complex. They do not want this for their children.

Legions of older, wiser soldiers know better now. And a new mission presents itself.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. —Benjamin Franklin

True Liberalism

Enlightenment liberalism—freedom’s doctrine—has been a powerful force for change. From free expression to private property rights and entrepreneurial markets, liberalism has done more to lift the world out of poverty and liberate the mind from destructive dogmas than any other doctrine.

But 1.0 was limited.

While liberalism 1.0 became primarily the theoretical basis of US constitutional law, it never found daily moral footing. Liberalism missed understanding itself as a more complete mode of practical conduct—a practice of virtue. So, despite its many successes, liberalism has endured setbacks.

Today, our founding ideals are slipping into obscurity. If we put matters into starker terms, we could poll the population with a single question:

Which is your highest social value?

• A—I want to live freely while affording others equal freedom. I want to help others live together peacefully in free communities.

• B—I want to be secure in my home and finances, so I will support authorities who promise to guarantee such security.

Most Americans were once committed to A as their highest social value. I would guess far more are committed to B today, though the tide seems to be turning back as the betrayals of the powerful are revealed.

A New Mission

Ahimsa is a way of life and a mode of conduct on the path to liberation. However, not everyone practices ahimsa, so we must protect ourselves and our families.

The greater mission, then—one that will restructure the way we organize ourselves—is implicit in the Constitution and explicit in the Declaration.

[T]o secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,…

The mission of every soldier, indeed every person of sound body and mind, ought to be to constitute a social order based upon the consent of the governed. That consent would be the moral and legal instantiation of ahimsa—the original American Dream. We will have doggedly to pursue that mission through subversive communication and innovation.

But that is not enough.

Force must occasionally be met with force. Not only are veterans capable of training us yokels in the basics of community protection, but many have the get-shit-done mentality that mission-based leadership requires.

It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. —Miyamoto Musashi

I accept my role as a pamphleteer, but others must accept their roles as musketeers. There may come a day when the pen is no longer mightier than the sword, and I will be ready. There may come a day when writing gives way to fighting, and I will be ready.

I hope the veterans are too.

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To Les, Jordan, Mike, Nate, and others who have shown me the twofold Way.