Salute the Rank, Not the Man
Lessons from the greatest series ever made, HBO's Band of Brothers.
Members of the coalition on the right - Republicans, libertarians, conservatives - are not exempt from virtue signaling. We are all subject to it, all humans are.
But no matter how you slice it, making a choice not to choose is illogical when faced with a binary choice - because not choosing is a choice. It is inescapable. There will be a next president whether you sit this one out or not.
On the one hand, there is a choice you don't like with good policies, on the other, there is a choice you don't like with bad policies.
Do not buy into the idea that choosing the former means you are absorbing the characteristics of that person into your life. You are not them.
Not choosing in such a situation is not principled, it comes from personal vanity.
My favorite line in Band of Brothers is when Captain Herbert Sobel walks past Dick Winters and Louis Nixon who were sitting in a Jeep.
Sobel was the 1st Lieutenant sent to Camp Toccoa, Georgia in 1942 as part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, an experimental unit which was part of the 101st Airborne. He was given command of Easy Company and trained the men at an extreme rate to push their limits and harden them.
During the war, Winters surpassed Sobel in rank (Winters was a Major by the time of the incident, Sobel a Captain) and when Sobel walks past Winters and Nixon, he doesn't salute Winter's superior rank.
In the movie, Winters stopped him, calling him out by saying,
"Captain Sobel, we salute the rank, not the man".
Grudgingly, Sobel saluted Winters.
General George Patton might have been a real bastard in person, but I would choose him to lead an army any day over Mark Milley. Patton was a leader, Milley a politician. Patton was a Winters, Milley was a Sobel.
In the military, we salute the rank, not the man.
An army is not one man, nor is a government. Generals succeed based on leadership, staff, and battle plans, in government presidents succeed by leadership, staff and policies.
In elections, we vote for the policies, not the man.
I recall a Townhall column where DJT is compared to U.S Grant who was a very flawed character but an effective general. When Lincoln was told to remove him because of his flaws he replied “We need this man. He fights.”
What I cannot fathom are the people who bang on endlessly about DJT’s bloviatjng and nasty tone, ignoring his actual record. I say you don’t hold that same standard for your doctor or attorney or auto mechanic. Why do you insist a politician be charming and polite? You want a job done, not your ego soothed.
Honestly I do hope the fools who voted for Biden because he seemed to be more gentlemanly will wake up before it’s too late.
"... In elections, we vote for the policies, not the man." These days Michael, too often under emphasized. Our nation needs to turn away from the policies and practices of gov'ts at all levels during the past 30+ years, except when DJT was POTUS. That 30 year time is remarkable for the incompetence of venal persons