Why I cannot support a fellow Naval Academy Alumnus
Dear Editor:
I am a 1969 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Like Hung Cao, I made a career of the Navy, although I never served in combat. CAPT (Ret.) Hung Cao has an impressive resume and is owed the gratitude of the nation for the service, sacrifice, and risk he undertook to serve our country.
Were those the only criteria, I could easily support his candidacy for Congress. But they are not.
As Naval officers, Hung Cao and I both took the same oath to “… support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic …”
If elected to Congress, he will take that oath again. However, as I listened to his statements on the campaign, I believe that he is placing party loyalty above the oath he once took. As former Naval officers we don’t, or should not, set aside our oath simply because we no longer serve on active duty.
During his October 2 debate with Congresswoman Wexton, when asked whether he believes Joe Biden is the elected President of the United States, he equivocated: “Joe Biden is the President of the United States; if you don’t believe me, go to your gas pumps …”
This was an attempt to have it both ways – neither an election denier, nor a clear statement that Joe Biden is the legitimately elected President of the United States. In our constitutional democracy, it is essential that our elected leaders clearly and unequivocally support the will of the people in elections. Absent such leadership, politicians are free to override the people’s will.
Hung Cao has also supported those who attacked the Capitol and the Constitution on January 6, 2021. It is beyond belief that a man who spent the greater part of his adult life in service to the country and the Constitution would not see such an attack by American citizens as a grave threat to the Constitution.
History teaches that when great nations fall, most often they crumble from within. Had the January 6 insurrection succeeded, there would be only a shredded Constitution and no democracy.
If elected, Hung Cao should be a Congressman who would use his considerable leadership skills to bring other members of the Republican Party, who conveniently follow the party line rather than their duty, back around to the oath that each took upon assuming office. Unfortunately, I do not see Hung Cao being that kind of leader and a man that I can trust to keep his oath of office. I will cast my vote for Congresswoman Wexton.
Oscar N. McNeil, Jr.
Waterford
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Mr McNeil,
Thank you for your service to your country.
I also am an Academy graduate, class of ’82, Air Force. I also took the same oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. I know what it means to do that. I, like you, and Captain Cao, made the military a career.
You’re gravely mistaken if you think Captain Hung Cao has, or ever will, set aside his oath of office. He loves this country and everything it stands for. The hope of this country is why his family fled here bringing him as a young boy to escape communism.
Your statements that Captain Cao is placing party loyalty above the oath come across as hollow. As do your statements that Captain Cao equivocated on his response to President Biden being the elected President of the United States.
Let’s talk about party loyalty first.
Since office, Jennifer Wexton has voted with Joe Biden 100% of the time. Perfect “party loyalty,” wouldn’t you say? It’s not surprising. Jennifer Wexton loudly and proudly proclaimed, “I’m on Team Joe!”
In the 21 months that President Biden has taken office, (peacefully sworn in on January 20, 2020, I might remind you), our economy is in a shambles. Inflation is at a 40-year record high, prices for gas and food are soaring, and our retirement nest eggs are destroyed by fiscal irresponsibility. Sitting on some of the world’s richest natural resources, we have to beg other countries to produce more oil.
When President Biden came into office, we had a plan to have an organized withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan that actually gave the Afghanistan people a chance of establishing a legitimate government that respected the rights of women. Under Biden our withdrawal was an utter disaster and total embarrassment to our military. What a horrific waste of American blood.
Under Biden, our total lack of statesmanship emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine. Now, it’s obvious to everyone that we’re using Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia. Can you name one country that actually respects the United States under Biden? Even our closest ally, Great Britain, put the leader of the free world in the 14th row, behind Poland, at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
By the way speaking of Ukraine and Russia, do you think that “supporting and defending the Constitution” includes having your son peddle influence to foreign entities? Should we go into Hunter Biden making $1M/yr as a member of the Board of Directors for Burisma, the largest oil and natural gas firm in the Ukraine? Or the Moscow mayor wiring $3.5M to an investment bank founded by Hunter Biden? Or Hunter Biden’s multi-million dollar deals with Chinese executives? Didn’t Hunter Biden say, “10% goes to the Big Guy?” Wonder who the Big Guy could be?
Where has Wexton been on all this? Nowhere to be found. Voting 100% with Biden.
Jennifer Wexton is the one who has placed party loyalty above all else. So typical of today’s democrats who once represented the little guy but are now the party of uber far-left socialist progressives.
Now, let’s talk about January 6th. So many democrats love to talk that date but don’t really want to talk about January 2016.
You remember what happened, right? How Hillary Clinton went on national TV in 2016 and said that the election was stolen from her? How the whole legacy news media, and democrat senators and members of congress agreed with her and said that Russia hacked our elections and that the election was not on the level and that Trump was an illegitimate president?
You remember all the violence that followed when democrat operatives said it would not be a peaceful change of power? When there was 3 days of major rioting (burning, smashing, and looting) in democrat run cities across the nation?
Those rioters weren’t arrested and they didn’t go to jail and nobody said Hillary Clinton was suggesting seditious behavior.
Did you see any burning smashing, and looting of the Capitol on January 6th? I haven’t. All I’ve seen is a bunch of people getting shoved and otherwise walking around the Capitol taking selfies. (To be honest, I do understand that a door window was broken.)
January 6th insurrection, “grave threat to the Constitution.” What a joke. An insurrection without any destruction and the only person who died was an unarmed female veteran who was not a threat to anyone. Shot by an overly aggressive Capitol Hill police officer.
Democrats in power aren’t anything if not hypocrites. Democrats don’t love the Constitution. They love power and will do anything to keep it. Even running a sham January 6th political hearing that barely drew flies for viewership because the people knew the truth.
Mr. McNeil, our country is already falling apart. Look around you. Its crumbling already in just 21 months under the weight of democrat incompetence and corruption.
Jennifer Wexton wants you to know that a vote for her is a vote for Biden. Think about that.
Don’t vote for democrats because that’s what you’ve always done. The democrat party has left you.
THAT was not an equivocated answer! Biden cut off supplies of oil so no big mystery why demand outstripped supply. Did you have economics in college? (ISLM CURVES?) Do you realize our strategic stockpile was sold to China and the Netherlands which did nothing to reduce our cost of gas so perhaps the president was either uniformed or ignorant of how “domestic” supply and demand affects “domestic” pricing. We need to stop bringing into the public domain really STUPID and unjustified criticism of candidates or else all we will end up is Biden or Harris equivalents. All in my own opinion.