by Michael Moffett, for Granite Grok

There are many angles from which to view the “Scandalous Saga of the Seditious Six,” the recent Video-Gate story of six Democrat congresspeople who went public to admonish serving military personnel that they don’t need to follow orders they deem illegal.

Such sagas have value in that they necessarily raise awareness about history, law, civics, precedents, military service doctrines, and motives.

As a Marine Corps veteran and the current Chair of the House Committee on State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs, I was unsurprisingly contacted by a reporter when the story broke. He sent me a link to the video and asked for a comment, which I provided as follows:

“A very disturbing video,” added state Rep. Michael Moffett (R-Loudon), a Marine veteran who served in the Middle East. “At Marine Corps Mess Nights, we always faithfully toasted our commander-in-chief, whether we liked them or not, be it Clinton, Bush, or Obama. This (attitude) is a huge threat to military discipline and the good order required. Very dangerous and disappointing to see partisanship introduced to our military culture in this way.”

The “Scandalous Saga of the Seditious Six” is of particular interest to Granite Staters in that one of the six is our CD2 Congressperson, Maggie Goodlander. Ironically, I had just spent some quality time with her on the Marine Corps Birthday, November 10^th. We Marines appreciated her getting up early that day to be at the State House flag-raising to offer comments. Later that day Beth and I shared a table with the Congresswoman and others at the Marine Corps Ball in Franklin, where she again offered very nice comments to the large crowd while I read Governor Ayotte’s proclamation. I later sent the Congresswoman a copy of my Afghanistan book.

It’s hard not to like Representative Goodlander. So, the “Scandalous Saga of the Seditious Six” was both a surprise and a disappointment.

The other five video participants were Senators Mark Kelly and Ellissa Slotkin, as well as Representatives Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan. All are Democrats, which made their action appear to be nakedly partisan. Surely, they could have found at least one Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger type to provide a patina of bipartisanship to their stunt.

An early reaction was to wonder whose idea this was. Apparently, it emanated from Slotkin, who is not even a veteran. Indeed, only 26 Democrats in all of Congress are veterans.

(In 1971, 78 out of 100 U.S. Senators were veterans, along with 313 out of 435 U.S. Representatives.)

Goodlander threw gasoline on the subsequent political fire by doubling down and providing a second video, which attempted to rationalize and justify the first.

The initial video, unfortunately, didn’t point to any specific issue or incident, which would have been instructive. Speaking in broad, ambiguous terms was perhaps an attempt to “poke the bear” to get a reaction. If that was the intent, it succeeded, as President Trump responded that he saw the behavior as possibly seditious, which could involve a death penalty. Dems happily replied by (inaccurately) claiming that the President called for the murder of the Seditious Six.

The President is familiar with this “bear poking” dynamic. He often utters provocative comments likely designed to cause apoplexy amongst his many political opponents who suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome who take the bait and end up looking foolish with their hysterical responses. Then Trumpsters effectively shine a light on their unhinged behavior.

“Touché, mes amis!”

Yes, specific examples of concerning orders would have been helpful. Short of that, speculation subsequently centered on administration policies related to domestic National Guard deployments or international interdictions of suspected nautical Venezuelan drug runners.

Goodlander is standing on especially shaky ground here, as she’s married to Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s National Security Advisor. Recall that the Biden Administration ordered bombing missions in Iraq, Syria, or Yemen—without Congressional sanction. Those actions likely resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians and could certainly be construed by some as “illegal orders” worthy of being disobeyed, if we follow the logic from Video-Gate.

But the likes of the Seditious Six were silent on these bombings, thus indicating that Video-Gate was prompted by partisanship, not patriotism.

Stone, meet Glass House!

An example of an illegal order would be a senior telling a subordinate to kill an unarmed civilian detainee. But most military orders result from senior leaders seeking to accomplish missions assigned by elected leaders. Members of any effective military do not have the luxury of discussing or debating the morality or probity of missions or orders.

To be sure, that approach has been tried before—with disastrous consequences.

For example, during World War I, Russia’s Imperial Army was infiltrated by Bolsheviks and other disruptors who succeeded in implementing Order #1, which called for the election of soldier “committees” to review policies and orders. Discipline collapsed. The Army disintegrated. Communists took over the country and sued for a separate peace with Germany in 1918 and then established a Soviet Union which would inflict a century of horrors all over the world.

Truth.

So, if a result of the Dems’ Video-Gate is an appreciation of important history, then that’s good. And if another result is an enhanced awareness of craven partisan political motives that undermine the good order and discipline in our military, then that is also good.

So, are the Scandalous Six actually seditious?

I want to think not.

Are they shameful?

Yes.

NH State Representative Mike Moffett of Loudon taught in public, parochial, and military schools as well as at the community college and university levels. He was an elected school board member who also served on the House Education Committee and was a Professor of Sports Management for Plymouth State University and NHTI-Concord. A former Marine Corps infantry officer, he co-authored the critically-acclaimed and award-winning “FAHIM SPEAKS: A Warrior-Actor’s Odyssey from Afghanistan to Hollywood and Back” which is available on Amazon.com.