The Military Is Not His
On Memorial Day, a military veteran and democracy advocate reminds us why keeping the armed forces out of domestic politics isn't optional
Dear Readers:
Last Memorial Day, we published an essay by Christopher Purdy—a veteran of the Army National Guard (including a deployment to Iraq) and the founder of The Chamberlain Network, a pro-democracy advocacy organization for vets....
The article presents a compelling case about the dangers of militarizing domestic politics, but it also invites deeper scrutiny of its framing and assumptions. At its core, the piece warns that the Trump administration's actions—deploying the National Guard for immigration enforcement, flirting with the Insurrection Act, and politicizing military leadership—risk transforming the military into a tool of partisan governance. This narrative aligns with a broader concern about democratic backsliding...