stood tall in the eyes of americans and age of institutional collapse, a republic of free people decided its military was the best thing about it. that sounds good. but you know what comes after that. our founders certainly knew. an armed forces cast in this role decided along with its admirers that it was the font of american sync virtue. that s where things went horribly wrong. so wrong that our military has in a few short years undone nearly all the respect, esteem and admiration that it accumulated across a half century. let s be clear this isn t just because it lost a war in afghanistan. the responsibility for that defeat a triumph by pakistan and the taliban over the u.s. is only partly military nor boon doings, it is mostly because our armed forces, especially its leadership, decided it s the font of american civic virtue it ought to weigh in on american civics. this is a shocking turn.