Americans, when swearing an oath, promise to: speak the truth; bear true faith and allegiance to that truth; defend and uphold the United States Constitution; and protect our country’s freedom. Loyalty and obedience is pledged to our Constitution, as represented by our flag, whenever we cite “The Pledge of Allegiance.” We Americans do not swear oaths to obey a Political Party or a Leader. So help us God.
Fascists, Nazis, and Communists, then and now, swear narrow and absolute oaths of fealty to an ideology firmly embodied in a Cult of Leadership that maintains a totalitarian society. Loyalty and obedience to the Party and to the Leader is all consuming. Diverse opinions are against one’s oath and therefore the law .
Many of us have a growing concern about the direction of the American Progressive movement. This movement has shed the name Liberalism. The Progressive Movement is in truth an unabashed rush to embrace collectivism. It hides under the banner of “Progress.” Nothing could be further from the truth, unless of course, you agree that more government, speech restricted to the banal, restricted worship of God, regimentation of political thought, a disarmed public, and an expansive [and expensive] welfare state is progress.
The World has been here and done this several times in history. During the Twentieth Century experiments in “Progress,” billions of people became serfs in a totalitarian states. These experiments in “Progress” claimed more then 100 million lives and bankrupted every country economy that it embraced. Yet, incredibly, each new era brings some new and improved form of Collectivism and Progressivism to the fore. This time it is called the “New World Order.” The movers and shakers of Progressivism say they only want a fairer world. The morning skies of dawning history show that something more sinister is on the horizon.
Politics today involve far more name-calling and invective rather than sound reason, logic and debate. This is because there is a deep and widening chasm in American political philosophy and it is not amusing. The name-calling and invective being hurled from the Left, usually characterizes Conservatives as Fascists or Nazis. This is a ludicrous, ridiculous and unsupportable notion. It betrays that the hurlers were invariably taught political philosophy by some Marxist-tainted college professor who chose to substitute feelings and fallacies for facts and logic.
I spent a career in uniform defending America against the likes of Nazis, Fascists, and Communists. I take this personally. When egregiously insulted, i.e., called a Nazi or a Fascist, I have the greatest urge to drop all reason and logic, and substitute my fist for my argument to the nose of such a bumptious bumpkin. What a great offense this is to any right-thinking American, to be called such a name without any reason other than to taint an argument unfairly or to smear an opponent. Besides, the oath an officer takes upon appointment would forever preclude any such association with Totalitarianism.
Conservative and Libertarian Americans, as a whole cannot, be stereotyped. We are traditional and rugged individualists who believe in American Exceptionalism. In this vein, trying to put us into any ideological box is like trying to herd cats. Much the same thing can be said about those few old fashioned Democrats who still exist. Prior to the New Deal, Americans knew who the Progressives were and rejected that movement. Democrats and Republicans had much more in common then. Today, Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians and Conservative Democrats struggle to be civil with our Progressive Democrat opposites.
Modern Progressive Democrats:
This group of revolutionary Leftists begs to be placed into an ideological box. The Modern Progressive Democrat Party is quite aptly described as an ideological, mass party, steeped largely in Progressive, Marxist theories of income redistribution, big centralized government, intrusion into and control of the Free Market. They define American freedoms and rights through their own prism. Their members must submit to litmus tests for beliefs much more rigidly than almost any other American Political Movement. Total loyalty to the Leadership is all a hallmark. To be otherwise, is to be expelled from their Caucus. The Progressive’s unstated oath of fealty revolves around a Leader and strict talking-points. Fierce fealty is demanded of Party members. Diversity of opinion is but smoke and mirrors. When confronted by proofs that dispute their positions with facts and logic, Progressives assume total cognitive dissonance. When their obduracy is challenged, they will attack with smear, falsehoods and invective. Ad hominem attacks, “poisoning the well, sweeping and emotional generalizations, and “post hoc ergo propter hoc,” are the favorite sophist fallacies of these Merchants of Dogma.
When the Progressives attack Conservatives in this manner, they are actually “projecting” their own ideologies, frameworks, and demands for absolute loyalty and obedience from their Party members. Vast Right-Wing Conspiracies are mythical bogeymen for the Left. Conservative “conspiracies” only take place in broad daylight. The Right is incompetent with and unpracticed in the use of guile. Contrast this with Obama’s Progressive [“transparent”] Administration. His Administration’s deliberations and planning, contrary to his campaign pledges, take place behind closed doors where only loyal and trusted Democrats may enter. There is no “political sunshine ethic” governing their deliberations.
One simply cannot possibly live on the same planet and think that ideologies based on Progressive Socialism and a Leader Cult have anything to do with Conservatism. It defies all true political philosophy. To characterize Fascists and Nazis as Rightists is false. The Fascists and Nazis opposed Russian Soviet Socialist Communism in the same way that various branches of the same Mafia Family fight it out to become the dominant branch of “family” power. To also say that there is a Right and a Left among Totalitarians is equally rubbish; there is only Left and Further-Left
“Progressive Democracy” does not tolerate opposing political parties. Recall Newsweek’s avant garde cover in the February 2008 issue, shortly after Obama’s inauguration: “We Are All Socialists Now?” Since then, labeling the Conservatives, Libertarians and other traditionally-minded Americans as Nazis or Fascists has become fashionable for the Left. These labels have all but become Leftist shibboleths for Conservatives and their ilk.
There is just one problem for them. Fascists and Nazis are actually the Left-wing kin of the Progressives. Pity the admirable old Democrats. The few true Liberal Democrats, like Senator Joe Lieberman, who remain in caucus with the new Progressives Democrats should take note and seek a new home as totally Independent Liberals, or risk becoming “useful idiots” for the Left.
If the Progressive Democrats remain in ascendancy, how long will it be before Americans will be asked to swear oaths of allegiance to something other than the United States Constitution? The Constitution is being dismantled in word and spirit daily by lawmakers, judges and politicians who “progressively” see the Constitution and Declaration of Independence as a living documents to be interpreted according to the prevailing “Zeitgeist.”
So, perhaps short refresher narrative on two of the Left’s three recent ideologies [Communism is #3… all are Socialist], and their oaths will give insight as to where the Progressive Left’s radicalism might lead us.
The Fascist Oath:
By all reports, Il Duce, Benito Mussolini was an imposing personality. By the accounts and descriptions of many, the regime could be as fantastical as it could be lurid. On the one hand it extolled traditions of stoic Roman glory, and the virtues of Family and Education. On the other hand, it was a cynical and brutal power grab. Fascists were murderous politicians and their followers were in reality nothing more than a criminal enterprise running what amounted to a countrywide “protection” racket in Post World War I and World War II Italy.
Mussolini was the one time editor of a small Socialist newspaper when he developed his Fascist philosophy. The following excerpts attempt to provide at first a glimpse of Mussolini the man, and then the Fascist Philosophy.
“The Duce’s imposing stature was in large part the creation of his controlled press. This is not to say that he did not possess natural talents. He had an animal vitality that impressed both men and women, a bluff and bullying manner that overbore people weaker than he, an incurable habit of self-dramatizing that helped him dominate any situation, a flair for the sensational that came from his [working] past, a not inconsiderable fund of peasant shrewdness, and oratorical gifts of the first order. But he was also timid, ill-educated, ignorant of foreign affairs, bereft of administrative ability, and too self-indulgent to repair his deficiencies, and it is a pity that Italy and the world did not appreciate these weaknesses sooner than they did. [1]
Fascism is in truth a farce: a series of contradictions, a fraudulent philosophy. It was and remains a grandiose mixture of Socialist distributive economics, government controlled Capitalism, and Collectivist devotion to State Nationalism, all wrapped up in charismatic populism and manufactured myths of great destiny. The Italian Fascists advertised it as a new Roman Empire, the “middle way” between Socialist-Communism and Capitalism, and the “middle-way” between Western Classical Liberalism and Eastern Totalitarianism.
“We all participate in a sort of mystic sentiment [in which] we do not form clear and distinct ideas, nor can we put into precise words the things we believe in, but it is in those mystic moments when our soul is enveloped in the penumbra of a new world being born that creative faith germinates into our hearts… the fascist spirit is will not intellect” [2]
“Fascism, in short, is not only the lawgiver and founder of institutions but an educator and promoter of spiritual life. It aims at refashioning not only the forms but the content of life: man, his character, and his faith. To this end it requires discipline and authority, entering into man’s soul and ruling with undisputed sway.” [3]
Fascist Party membership was small in comparison to population. At peak membership it had a million or so members and represented only about 2.5% of the Italian population. And yet, it became a surprisingly national political force, first seizing power in 1921, and later legitimizing itself in the 1924 elections. The latter was accomplished despite the ruthless and suspicious murder of a competing Socialist Party opponent. In that election, the Fascists won an overwhelming majority of votes and easily dominated the Italian Assembly. It boasted impressive claims to build a new Italian Empire, with a promise to transform Italy and create a new society for all Italians. Part of that promise included a demand that the citizenry trust Mussolini and the Fascist Party, and grant them full powers to lead the way. Most Italians, in the wake of World War I misery, shortages, and economic depression eagerly submitted to Mussolini and drank the poison. Mussolini overlaid his Fascism onto every ministry of state and all aspects of Italian society.
Mussolini did make the trains run on time. And, he did create an education program that decreased illiteracy while simultaneously indoctrinating Italian children to be obedient servants of Il Duce and the State. He created numerous youth groups under the guise of “growing good citizens,” but with the real agenda of creating indoctrinated servants. Membership in these political and paramilitary youth groups was essential to anyone hoping to gain full Fascist Party Membership and have any hope for a good job or a career in government. The following oath was administered to Italian Fascist Youths.
“In the name of God and of Italy I swear to carry out with out discussion the orders of Il Duce and the serve the Cause of the Fascist Revolution with all of my might and if necessary with my life….” [4]
Oaths for children! Officers, Police, and Party Members took similar oaths. Hopefully the reader notes the reference to God in the oath, that places the Italian State, the Fascist Revolution and Il Duce, all on the same level of fidelity and loyalty.
The Nazi Oath:
In the 1930s, Hitler’s Nazi Party, Culture, Society and Youth Movement were modeled in small and large ways on Italian Fascism. Hitler, however neither claimed to be nor wanted to be the “middle way.” Hitler sought to be top dog in Europe, Russia, and Africa from the very beginning. Nevertheless, when Mussolini’s regime was in its final days, Hitler showed his esteem for Il Duce by rescuing him, reportedly saying,
“After all, it was the Duce who showed us that everything was possible.”[5]
Ironically, at the same time that Mussolini finally became the elected the leader of Italy, Hitler was serving a prison sentenced for his failed 1923 “Putsch” [coup] in Munich. While in Landsberg Prison, Hitler wrote “Mein Kampf,” his blueprint for the Third Reich and his plans for a “Final Solution,” Nazi code words for the elimination of European Jewry. Once free from prison, Hitler went to work building a Nazi Party infrastructure that would overlay the government of the German State and “transform” it into his Nazi Third Reich.
In 1933 the Nazis received the largest plurality of votes [much less than 50%] in a national election. Yes the Nazi Brownshirts were on the streets to “encourage” the vote, intimidate Jews, and “discourage” the opposition. Convincing and pressuring the dying President von Hindenburg, Hitler was at last appointed Chancellor. Hitler never looked back. Hitler at once consolidated power and transformed German society. He never approached more than 37% of the vote … but then, it no longer mattered.
Leni Riefenstahl, the German [Nazi] film maker made a classic propaganda work called “Triumph des Willens.“ [6] It showed a triumphant Hitler at the sixth Party Conference in Nurnberg in 1934. The Assembled Schutz Staffel [SS] and Sturm Abseiling [SA “Brownshirts”] stood breathlessly as Der Fuehreraddressed them from the elevated dais. This film and this Party Congress made Hitler into much more than the German Chancellor. It made him “Der Fuehrer.”
Herr Hitler, too, made use of the educational system to cultivate the follow-on generations of young Aryans for his Third Reich. As with the Italian education system, failure to join a German Youth Group or the Nazi Youth all but assured one of second tier citizenship in the Reich, at best.
But where Hitler stood apart was his cultivation of the Military. All Officers, members of the SS and Nazi Party took an oath of loyalty to their cult Leader, Adolph Hitler.
The Fuehrer Oath (effective August 2, 1934):
"I swear by almighty God this sacred oath: I will render unconditional obedience to the Fuehrer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht, and, as a brave soldier, I will be ready at any time to stake my life for this oath." [7]
The German Officership had compromised themselves and their integrity. It even became treasonable to speak out in principled disagreement during discussions on matters of military policy. Such a national German hero as General Rommel was felled by his oath on grounds of treason even though historians dispute whether Rommel took part in any plot. Count von Stauffenberg and countless others met their deaths while trying to restore Germany to republican rule, trapped and held hostage by an oath to a tyrant.
The Beauty of a Freeman’s Oath:
When I was commissioned in the United States Army in June 1971, I swore an oath. It was an oath that was modified earlier in 1959, a heady time during the Cold War. Oaths to personages or political establishments are avoided with good reason. During the Nurnberg War Trials, many Nazi defendants claimed that they were merely following orders, consistent with their oath. The Nazi defendants hoped this would mitigate their personal responsibility and ameliorate their sentences. It was a bogus defense. Consistent with this lesson of history, Officers in a free country are expected to uphold freedom and not follow orders blindly. All commissioned officers must take the following oath when they are appointed in the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the U. S. Marine Corps:
I, [State your full name], do solemnly swear 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; that I take this oath freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office which I am about to enter; So help me God.
From the day I took this oath I became a lifelong protector of the United States Constitution.
The reader will note that there is no end date for this oath, nor is there a stated loyalty to any person or ideology. This oath is the reason I refrain from punching those name-calling Leftists in the nose. While their act is no doubt libelous, any such assault would be conduct unbecoming an Officer of the United States and create scandal. And, while I may be in a “retired” status, I am still bound by that oath. There is one major difference today. I am now free, like civilians, to state my opinions, engage in debates, campaign for candidates, and run for public office.
Sadly today, many folks fear their government. They think their Representatives in Congress are not listening to them. They fear the growth of an impersonal and imperious government full of officious bureaucrats. They fear that one day some unscrupulous President with the support of a rubber-stamp Congress, might command Federal Forces to enforce certain Executive Orders or Declarations of Emergency in which those forces would move against the citizenry.
People should be aware that there are checks and balances to such misuse of power. First, the Federal Posse Comitatus statute and individual State laws severely restrict such use of Federal Forces within the United States. Second, Officers are bound to respect, obey and carry out lawful orders only. Your Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines are trained frequently regarding what is a legal or an illegal order. Third, State and Local Police organizations are also trained to know the difference. Fourth, all citizens must educate themselves about Posse Comitatus. Because it is inherent in the nature of big government in certain situations to overreach, it is the duty of all Americans to be informed and vigilant.
Remember, when Federal and State Officers raised their right hands and took that oath, they swore to uphold the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic. The American citizen is not a foreign or a domestic enemy. Law enforcement officers assist citizens, maintain order, capture lawbreakers, and quell civil unrest. A governor can also utilize that State’s National Guard in a state of emergency. I personally know of no situation where regular soldiers would take up arms against their fellow American citizens.
Many on the Left complain about organizations like “Oath Keepers.” This is an organization of retired and veteran members of the Armed Forces and Local/State Police. They have come together to affirm to the citizenry that we took our oath seriously, without reservation or purpose of evasion. One cannot retire one’s oath to God and Country. It is our solemn duty, even on retired status to uphold our oath.
The Oath Keepers, for example, represent a great stumbling block to those Progressives who want to overlay their ideological template on the Constitution and “transform” American Society according to their New World Order vision of a Collectivist State. In fact, Oath Keepers represent only the tip of the iceberg of resistance Progressives will encounter if they seek to impose any Progressive Creeds, or Progressive Oaths, or try to force changes on Americans or American Institutions. We and you are not Fascists or Nazis. We are American Patriots. So help us God!
Words of advice to those who would continue besmirching outspoken traditional Americans, whether they belong to Oath Keepers, Tea Party Groups, other Patriots groups, or who simply speak their mind citizens: Knock it off!
Works Consulted:
1. Craig, Gordon. Europe since 1914, The Dryden Press, 1972. Page 551.
2. Ibid. Gentile, Giovanni quoted by Craig, Page 550.
3. Gentile, Giovanni, “The Doctrine of Fascism,” Roots of Western Civilization II, Wesley D. Camp, Editor, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1983, Page 217.
4. “Art. 14, Statute of the National Fascist Party,” Roots of Western Civilization II, Wesley D. Camp, Editor, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1983. P218.
5. Davies, Norman. Europe, a History, Harper Perennial, 1996. Page 949.
6.
Triumph des Willens,”
7. From: [url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/oath.html]http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/oath.html[/url])
“God pardon all oaths that are broke to me!
God keep all vows unbroken are made to thee!”
- Wm. Shakespeare, King Richard II, Act III. Scene iv.
Oaths and American Politics:
What kind of oaths are you prepared to take?
What is the oath of a freeman? What is the oath of a slave? The oath of a freeman binds man to serve and defend freedom for all.
The oath of a slave binds man to serve a master and his desire.
