I asked a dear friend of mine, who is a Veteran, a very pointed question. “How do you feel about the results of the mid-term elections?” His answered that he felt sadden and dismayed. I then asked him why he felt that way. The following was his poignant response.

To answer your question about why I am feeling so sad and dismayed after this past week, it is not a short story, but one packed with history.
I can trace my family back to the early colonies. I have many ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, and others who fought for the freedom of Texas—including four family members whose names are on the memorial wall at the Alamo. Like many others, our family served on both sides of the Civil War; a father fought for the North and his son for the South, both at the Battle of Shiloh. My grandfathers served in WWI, and my uncles and a great-uncle in WWII. My dad joined just after WWII and served in Korea. I had cousins in Vietnam, and my brother and I enlisted right as that conflict ended, leading him to Europe and me to the Pacific. Both of my sons also served. Every generation has fought for the freedoms this great country was founded on. Now, looking at the political landscape, it feels as though this same country is electing people whose ideals stand in direct opposition to those foundational principles.
We all swore an oath to God and this country. I still remember the words of the oath I took: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…” I said that oath 8 times in my 27 year Naval Career.
For 250 years, this has been a great nation founded on the pursuit of liberty. The early colonies were started by Godly Christian men and women looking to escape persecution in Europe, build a new way of life, and follow divine guidance. Some of my own family were Lutherans who came to Texas for that exact religious freedom. It makes me think of what John Adams once wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” It feels as though we are losing that essential moral anchor, and that is why my heart is so heavy.

After reading my friend’s heartbroken response, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Would my friend, his family, his ancestors, and millions of those who have made the necessary and often ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom as Americans, feel a sense of betrayal in the aftermath of the election?” I think so.

May our country’s legacy not be one of betrayal to the very ones who kept us free and held true to the Constitution! Just think of what they gave us. Now we must ask ourselves, “What are we giving them?”