THE CONSTITUTION

There are several great things about General Milley's farewell speech. It was short. It was simple. It was poignant. It was surprising. It left you wanting more. It told the uninformed what an oath means to some men and women. It shocked some under-educated people to learn what is in the oath of office and that military people take the same oath as the president of the United States.

It was rich with meaning and irony. What was he saying? He didn't swear alliance to the country he defended? 

No. He swore alliance to a set of ideals, ideas, and principles. He claims to defend a set of rules against its enemies. He knew he was defending the immutable, timeless, almost perfectly written guiding principles ever articulated.

And he knew the contemporaneous threats against which he was exhorting us all to defend ourselves and the Constitution that guides us.

Yes, but for General Milley and those of us who follow his leadership, we may lose our freedoms to a cult of autocrats and theocrats. General Milley's 30-second genius will save us if we listen and heed. The minority does not rule. A cult leader, a Hitler admirer, should not hold public office.

Yes, the Supreme Court was wrong about the second amendment, and yes, the electoral College was a mistake they could not have seen coming. But they set in motion rules worthy of our pledge to defend that set of principles against all enemies, even to the death.