A Nation Designed For Times Like These

The U.S. Secretary of Defense went AWOL. On January 1, Lloyd Austin was hospitalized, and his chief of staff and three other aides failed to inform the commander-in-chief that he was out of commission. A uniformed service member would be subject to a maximum of six months in jail for violating Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but no one is going to hold Austin accountable for an unprecedented and unwarranted breakdown in the chain of command.

Last week, we started the new year discussing accountability and how that’s now Team America’s watchword — with our blessings and our rights come duty and accountability. We hold ourselves accountable to ourselves, our families and communities, and to our country. This week, we hold to account senior government officials charged with leading our servicemen and women but who are incapable of governing themselves.

For the last several months, Americans wearing our country’s uniform have been under attack throughout the Middle East by Iranian proxies. Pentagon leadership has done little to protect them lest it anger the terror regime in Tehran, with which the Joe Biden administration seeks an agreement that will legalize Iran’s nuclear weapons program. In other words, it appears that the current administration has sent Americans into a danger zone for no purpose except to advance the interests of a U.S. adversary.

Other Iranian allies, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, have virtually closed down the Red Sea to commercial shipping. One of the world’s largest shipping companies, Maersk, is avoiding the Red Sea entirely to take a longer route around the African continent, raising costs of consumer goods for middle-class Americans. And the U.S. Navy is all but silent. It’s worth recalling that this storied institution was re-established in 1794 to protect American commerce from Middle East pirates on the Barbary Coast. Since the end of World War II, one of the Navy’s most vital missions has been to protect global shipping lanes. And yet under Austin and the President he serves, Red Sea pirates controlled by Tehran have acquired the power to set the price for world markets.

The current commander-in-chief gave a speech last week at Valley Forge, likening himself to the father of our country. But his purpose was not to unify Americans in one great cause, as George Washington inspired those under his command. Rather, it was to sow further division and savage not only his leading political opponent, President Trump, but also his followers, half the country — and growing. President Washington defeated the greatest military power of the day and defeated a tyrant for the cause of American liberty. By contrast, Joe Biden has opened our southern border to an illegal invasion force of millions, for the purpose of terrorizing and impoverishing Americans and further enriching our corrupt ruling class.

In the strictest sense, it doesn’t really matter Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin went missing half a week, for his record shows he’s been absent from the outset. He’s not in charge, nor is the President, for no one in this government wants to take responsibility for leading the country they were hired to lead. America has reached a new low in the character of its governance and it’s time to right the ship.

The fact is that there is no cavalry coming over the horizon. No one is on the way to rescue us from our current condition. It’s just us, We the People. And that’s how our Founding Fathers designed it — government by, of, and for the people. Now is the time that our mettle is tested.