Friday, June 20, 2025

Dragging Our Feet

 I spent three years in a paramilitary organization where I learned to walk in step with the people next to me. It wasn't difficult. It was surrendering to a very natural impulse. With the tiniest bit of onboard rhythm, you can get a group of humans to march around in step with one another. This is what my experience in high school band taught me. 

What I witnessed in recorded bits of the practice parade the convicted felon threw for himself suggested that we he invited only the least practiced military units we have or that perhaps our men and women in uniform have begun to grow tired of the chicanery the bloviator in chief continues to pass off as governance. Experience suggests that it is difficult to walk out of step with even one other walker with any exposure to the left-right-left drill. My wife and I are both high school band veterans and sometimes try to avoid this conformity just to keep our level of obedience to social norms at bay. I can report that this is not worth the effort. 

So why would hundreds of America's armed forces show up on a Saturday to meander in front of a dictator who can't even get the stands filled? Perhaps for the same reason that you and I might flinch about having to go to work on a Saturday. Because the boss made you. You'll probably show up, but you won't work that hard. There might even be just a little veiled antipathy in the music choices if he let you use the stereo in the break room. This might explain why John Fogerty's song, "Fortunate Son," was played not once but multiple times over the shambling proceedings. 

And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"

Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him march in step with the other horses. Or get him to wear a red baseball cap. Or listen to Lee Greenwood or the Village People. And if you drag a bunch of men and women who have sworn an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and tell them to march around in front a twice-impeached adjudicated rapist who uses the Bill of Rights like a menu at Denny's, always asking for substitutions even though the waitress explains that they are not available. It's not the military that needs to get in step. It's the former game show host who has made a point of belittling those who have sacrificed for their country who needs to get in line. 

Or get out. 

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