In a video that has recently surfaced on social media, Mattis is seen speaking to U.S. troops in an unknown location. In his remarks to the troops, Mattis said the U.S. is facing “problems.”
“Our country right now, it’s got problems we don’t have in the military,” Mattis said. “You just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it.”
Mattis said the U.S. has “two powers” - “inspiration” and “intimidation.”
“We’ve got the power of intimidation, and that’s you, if someone wants to screw with our families, our country and our allies,” Mattis said. “The power of inspiration - [and] we’ll get the power of inspiration back.”
Our military quite literally defends to the death the right of people to speak their minds. But the "problems" we face are an assault on free speech and rule of law by far-left agitators who claim to speak for liberals, and who liberals do not police or disavow as they should out of fear of being considered part of the NKR2GCTVPMD (Nazi, Ku Klux Klan, Racist or Republican, Gun-owning, Confederate, Trump-voter, Veteran, Privileged, Male, Deplorable) community that the Left considers a continuum of hate.
And the Left conveniently gets to label people who disagree with liberal views as members of a hate group or two.
I don't understand how people can have that much hatred as we have seen over the last year. I've never treated a liberal with anything but respect, as an individual. If I don't like one it is because of the person and not because of their politics. It's a free country. But now it is okay to think of anyone on the right as a horrible evil person, against whom any outrage is justified? This is how we play this?
I know that social media greatly magnifies the hatred out there, making it seem more intense and widespread. But the Left's storm troopers exert a lot of influence on those not inclined to share the hatred (these days a majority of people feel they can't speak freely) because none of them want to be targeted for the Twitter-storm of outrage for failing to signal outrage against the right people. And the hatred even in that small slice of society represented by the perpetually outraged online people (POOP, to add another acronym) is clearly much more visible in the last year.
People need to get a grip. We need to understand and respect each other--and show it--despite political differences. The military can hold the line for a bit. But if the Clausewitzian trinity rests on one solid military pillar and two fractured people and government pillars that are at war with themselves, the country will not hold in the face of a serious threat.
I've long said that the federal government is way too important in our lives if it inspires 24/7 political warfare to control it during and even between elections with no pause. How good a decision was it to let this happen?
On the bright side, we still have the vast oceans to shield us from the worst consequences of such a failure. But the march back would be long, bloody, and expensive.
