Caution 18: Armed and Thoughtful
“Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.)” –Timothy Snyder, Historian, Holocaust/Third Reich expert
Those in power wish very much to treat America’s armed public servants as an interest group. By glorifying and patronizing, they attempt to set law enforcement and military on one side, and America on the other. This is not necessarily an autocratic tactic – although autocrats love it – but it is a very American one.
To this, the final and essential defense is simple professional ethics. The motto “to serve and protect”….the oath to the Constitution….the moral decision to refuse an unjust order. That in the past they have often been honored more in the breach than in practice does not alter it. There is no substitute for the integrity of those who serve.