The older I get, the less I care about public opinion. The older I get, the less I believe the government should have any say in how people conduct their lives. There’s a balance there though, obviously. I should have the right to live as I please, but only if I don’t impair anyone else’s ability to do so. This also doesn’t abrogate the individual of a responsibility to the greater good. But if the greater good isn’t about the government, or imposing a way of life I find palatable onto others against their wishes, what is the greater good?

Robert Heinlein once famously wrote, "The basic of all morality is duty, a concept with the same relation to group that self-interest has to individual." If we construct our personal ethics rationally and logically, stripped of emotion, political demands, religious beliefs, and cultural trappings, it’s not too hard to discern what is truly moral.

The greater good is not Christian, or Muslim, or any other religion. It isn’t conservative or liberal, democrat or republican, black or white. It is a rational and logical concept. The greater good is what benefits the most over the long term while infringing on the fewest. The only true definition of immoral is harming another without valid justification.

My entire adult life, my job was applying force to others. People may not like that definition, but that is at the heart of what the soldier and policeman does. Apply force for the greater good. The thing I am proudest of though, both as a soldier and as a cop, is that I never did violence to another unnecessarily. It was never for revenge, or pleasure, or ego. It is far too easy to be jaded by what you see, to be seduced by the ability to apply force on behalf of the state. To become cruel and a bully. But when you do so, you perpetuate injustice and tyranny. You create enemies where there need be none. I never shied away from violence. It was part of my job. And violence, contrary to political correctness, is often necessary. But violence just because you can always sows the seeds of future conflict. Likewise, anyone in law enforcement who enforces unconstitutional mandates, with or without overt force, is no longer serving the common good. My oaths were to the constitution and the public, not to a mayor or a governor.

I avoid commenting on politics and current events on the internet. It invariably leads to arguing with fools, a hobby I have no interest in. But I have never seen our country so divided. Allegiance to a country is different than agreement with a government. Our country, for all it’s faults and mistakes, is truly a unique and unprecedented thing in history. A republic designed to allow the true power to remain in the hands of the people. The 1st and 2nd amendments alone are crucial to preventing the natural tendency of governments to descend into tyranny over time. Which is why they so often fall under political attack.

If we remain as divided as we currently are, we run the risk of losing the republic the constitution has given us, just as Benjamin Franklin cautioned. I have seen true oppression, real tyranny and poverty, and I have seen the effects of war. These are things no American has truly experienced at home. All the “boogaloo bois” champing at the bit for a civil war are wishing for something I would give my life to avoid, a war at home. That doesn’t mean we aren’t morally obligated to fight tyranny if it comes to that. We are. I just pray it never has to happen. But if we don’t learn, and quickly, to be Americans first and contribute to the greater good of our nation rather than fight amongst each other over political or religious ideology or race, then I am very afraid that is the direction we may be headed.

It is time to be rational and objective. Time to heal wounds and move forward, rather than spark further dissension and strife. Contrary to what the media would have you believe, it isn’t the police vs the poor, or conservatives vs liberals, or black vs white. If you are for individual freedom instead of government tyranny, if you understand the duty to the common good, if you can make ethical decisions based on fact instead of emotion, then your allies are others who can do the same, regardless of occupation, race, or political affiliation. Seek and serve the common good, and do no unnecessary harm.