America on the Edge of Revolt? Grumblings from the Military Underworld.

The Big Lie, January 6, Proud Boys, Boogaloo Boyz, white supremacists, the Klan, white nativists, militia violence and a supremely radicalized Republican Party. Now America's military leadership may add momentum to the building upheaval.

A chilling open letter from retired US generals and admirals released this week denounces Democrats as Marxists and socialists that imperil America's constitutional democracy. 

Aside from the (stolen) election, the Current Administration has launched a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing the Congress, with more than 50 Executive Orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous Administration’s effective policies and regulations. Moreover, population control actions such as excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression are all direct assaults on our fundamental Rights. We must support and hold accountable politicians who will act to counter Socialism, Marxism and Progressivism, support our Constitutional Republic, and insist on fiscally responsible governing while focusing on all Americans, especially the middle class, not special interest or extremist groups which are used to divide us into warring factions.

...Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration, our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered now by electing congressional and presidential candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic. The survival of our Nation and its cherished freedoms, liberty, and historic values are at stake.

This 'open letter,' tinged with Stanley Kubrik/Dr. Strangelove-grade menace, evidences a break in civil-military protocols intended to safeguard democracy.  From Foreign Policy magazine:

This piece of appalling partisan invective was newsworthy mainly because it was signed by retired military officers who, in so doing, violated the norms of their profession and contributed to the erosion of healthy civil-military relations in the United States.

Perhaps we should not be shocked to discover that, at a time when American society is reeling from extreme partisan polarization—when significant numbers of prominent politicians are openly promoting falsehoods such as the bogus claim that Trump’s resounding defeat at the ballot box was due to electoral fraud—some fraction of the retired military community has fallen prey to the same myths. If a problem exists in civilian society, one can expect to see it in the military assigned to protect that society as well.

What makes the letter so disturbing is that the 124 signatories are all retired members of a profession whose treasured principles demand that it be subject to civilian command and should remain separate from parochial partisan politics. This is a group of men—and it appears they are all men—who repeatedly pledged an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and are now doing their level best to undermine it and, in particular, the crucial principle of civilian control.

In the letter, the group calling itself “Flag Officers 4 America” writes: “We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.”

...With the embers of the Jan. 6 attempt to block the peaceful presidential transition still smoldering, this letter pours gasoline on the fire in a brazen attempt to ignite more unconstitutional challenges to the elected government.

...This letter is a primal scream by several scores of older Republican men who are angry that the electorate, in a free and fair election, chose Biden as president instead of their preferred candidate, Trump. Rather than accept this defeat and prepare for the next election, they are trying to delegitimize the victory by making false claims about the duly elected commander in chief.

They are entitled to believe untruths, even to express untruths, but the only reason we bother noticing them is that they once were commanders in the most potent coercive instrument of state power, the military—and the nagging fear that they might be speaking for others who have the potential to wield real coercive power now.