By Michael R. Lehnert and Richard L. Kelly
Lehnert served 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring as the Commander of Marine Corps Installations West. He lives in Williamsburg, Michigan. Kelly served 35 years in the U.S. Marine Corps retiring as the Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.
On Veterans Day, Americans will lay wreaths on the graves of service men and women who served to protect the rights and values we celebrate as Democracy. For veterans across the nation who we will honor this day, our tributes may ring hollow if we fail to perform our most important civic duty: exercising our right to vote. Simply put, the vote has never been more important than at this moment in our history.
Our nation faces a range of health, economic, and security threats as we go to the polls on November 3. But we are blessed with great strength that, when coupled with competent and courageous leadership, can prevail in any situation. While some of today’s threats are international in nature, our view is that the greatest threat lies within our own borders. It’s an existential threat to our democracy, civil society, national solvency, and international standing. This is not an issue of conservative versus liberal or Republican or Democrat, but an issue for all Americans.
We are shamed by a government that no longer honors the basic precepts of our democracy: justice, truth, courage, caring, and integrity; a government that fans the fires of fear, hatred, incivility and flat out dishonesty; and a government that fails to accept and respect the very values that we spent our active duty lives defending. We served to protect a country that exemplifies the virtues that we in the military demanded of each other — integrity above all, courage to stand up against wrong, service over self, dignity in all interactions, and extending a helping hand to a shipmate who has stumbled.
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Missing in action, or to a lesser degree being unaccounted for, are profoundly disturbing situations in which military leaders are unable to account for their most precious asset and responsibility — their fighting men and women. The former is the most dreaded because you assume the worst — capture, death or incapacitation.
Sadly, now the term “missing in action” seems to fit the behavior and performance of the military’s commander in chief and our president. He has failed to acknowledge the severity of COVID-19 by taking meaningful steps to reduce death and infection rates. He has failed to protect the integrity of our electoral process from foreign adversaries. He has failed to denounce hate groups and emboldened them by his silence. He has failed to build longstanding alliances — to include global climate action. He has weakened our national security and the international world order.
And now, after nine months of minimizing the pandemic and flaunting proven protective measures, he and some of his closest advisers became sick with COVID-19. Most disturbing but not surprising is the president’s lack of transparency with regard to his health further undermining faith in government and stability of the economy and markets. The shock waves are beginning to be felt by our remaining friends and allies and will be seized upon by nations and nonstate actors who wish us harm.
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What kind of “leader” basically attacks his own country and large segments of the citizenry? What kind of “leader” treats a deadly disease sweeping the nation, currently with no cure, as a “joke” just because he survived with the help of medical care unavailable to 90.99% of his fellow Americans? What kind of horrible person expresses no empathy for the tens of thousands of Americans from low income and ethnic communities who have died unnecessarily and very disproportionately “propping up” him and his staggering economy? How many of them benefited from the stock market which rises on speculative news of a future vaccine or from skyrocketing real estate prices as those in the “privileged minority” seek to flee to “greener pastures” where they can “escape the plague” and work from home unbothered by the trauma of others?
Delighted to say that one or both of these op-eds were picked up by at least 17 papers – 2 international, 6 in battle ground states, Yahoo News, and particularly noteworthy by Stars and Stripes.
