Let me clarify that I’m not trying to sound like an “enlightened centrist here,” I’m just trying to make the point that playing the finger-pointing game in relation to this story also contributes to the zero-sum-game politics that causes this institutional decay. There are no winners here, only losers.

I think, given the fact that we are all living in the same era of American politics and that we are all in the comments section of a story about a Republican Senator, that it was obvious Republicans are the perpetrators I’m speaking of. Their behavior with regard to institutional security is obviously abhorrent.

I am a bit bothered by your reply though. And I do mean to operate in good faith here, but I am curious about whether my comment was unclear or were you hoping for “Democrat good” to be my reply?

Rhetoric aside, it is chilling that a sitting Senator would take such a step and we should all be concerned about what this could lead to.

Today it’s Tuberville’s hold on nominations for non-military political reasons. Maybe tomorrow it’s the Armed Services committees treating these appointments and promotions like judicial nominations. All of a sudden, you effectively have de-facto political appointments for in-the-ranks military leadership, and U.S. politics is far scarier than it’s ever been.

Sure, I’m committing a slippery slope fallacy here, but given the track record of our political leaders to cause institutional decay with zero-sum game partisan politics, I don’t think it’s a stretch.