Defending the Middle Ground
Why the Post-War Order Matters at 250
Today, as we celebrate the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence as our nation stands at a profound crossroads. Having spent nearly a quarter-century in the military from 1990 to 2014, followed by a decade serving as a diplomat until 2025, I have dedicated my entire adult life to defending the American experiment and the global framework it built. From the front lines of tactical deployments to the negotiating tables of international statecraft, I have seen firsthand what happens when the fragile guardrails of democracy fail.
Recently, an AI-generated, World War II-style propaganda poster caught my eye. It depicts a determined figure holding out two fists, flanked by a screaming Nazi and a shouting Soviet soldier, under the bold text: “PUNCH A NAZI AND A COMMUNIST.” While I certainly do not advocate for physical violence in our modern political discourse, the symbolic message resonates deeply. It is a stark reminder of the dual totalitarian threats that defined the 20th century—and a warning that the foundational ideas that defeated them are once again under siege.
We defeated fascism violently in 1945 through global mobilization and immense human sacrifice. Nearly a half-century later, in 1991, we witnessed the peaceful collapse of Soviet communism, a victory delivered not by total war, but by the systemic superiority of freedom, open markets, and human rights. Diplomatic soft power played a vital role! From the ashes of these struggles, we built the post-WWII liberal world order.
To be sure, this system is flawed. It has stumbled, it has been unevenly applied, and it has left communities behind. But as Winston Churchill famously observed, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. The liberal international order—anchored by democratic governance, the rule of law, and mutual alliances—has prevented a third world war and lifted billions out of poverty.
Yet, over the last decade, a corrosive populism has eroded confidence in this order from both sides of the political spectrum.
On the left, we see rising figures, many identifying as Democratic Socialists, who downplay the horrific historical legacy of far-left authoritarianism. They offer variants of the fundamentally flawed premise that communism simply “wasn’t implemented properly.” This historical revisionism ignores the reality that total state control over economic and social life inevitably requires total coercion.
On the right, which currently holds the presidency and majorities across all three branches of government, we see an alarming embrace by some intellecuals and tech oligarchs of “post-liberalism.” What began as a skepticism of global institutions has devolved into a mild flirtation with fascist concepts, characterized by increasingly violent rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism. When the peaceful coexistence of a diverse society is framed as an existential threat, the very bedrock of our republic begins to fracture.
We must recognize that much of the public’s frustration with the political establishment stems from good intentions. People feel unheard, and their economic anxieties are real. We cannot simply dismiss alternative ideas out of hand. However, the solution to a flawed establishment is not to burn down the house and retreat into the radical extremes. The solution is to constantly endeavor to hold our traditional parties and institutions honest, accountable, and truly representative.
We can fix the system from within. True institutional reform requires structural changes that return power to the people: implementing comprehensive campaign finance reform to remove dark money and unlimited donation amounts from our politics, establishing sensible term limits for both Congress and the judiciary to prevent the entrenchment of a ruling class and the use of these positions as a path to massive wealth, and limiting gerrymandering to ensure truly proportional representation.
As we watch the fireworks illuminate the sky tonight, let us remember that the American experiment is not a given; it is a continuous act of will. The extremes of the far-right and the far-left offer nothing but the recycled tyrannies of the past. Social media, while very useful, is often a platform for misinformation. An ultrawealthy nihilistic individual, like Elon Musk can control the narrative, knowing full-well millions of people have lost faith in legacy media. The middle ground—the messy, compromised, but fundamentally free liberal order—is worth fighting for. Let’s roll up our sleeves and fix it!
Happy 4th!