With the battle for the soul of our nation currently taking place on so many different fronts, sometimes you don’t know who you are fighting with until the artillery shells start raining down around you, and those fighting on other fronts are trucked in for support. Until various media outlets started trumpeting the campaign to overturn my election, and cancel my seat in the Alaska House of Representatives, I wasn’t aware that there was an international group of conservative West Point graduates who would take an interest in what was taking place up here in Alaska.
Imagine my surprise when they reached out and invited me to join their number. That would have been reason enough to be grateful, but they didn’t stop there. They took a personal interest in the attacks being leveled against me and wrote a public letter encouraging me to hold the line in the Alaska State House. Their letter received coverage in local media, and judging by the comments section on the article, the woke graduates who have been working overtime trying to cancel me were not at all pleased at their entrance into the conversation.
I have included the full letter below, from more than 750 graduates, among them; David Cunningham, Class of ’74; Donald Canaday, Class of ’87; Dave Drotar, Class of ’88; John Ferris, Class of ’73; Melvin De Vilbiss, Class of ’75; Ken Westlund, Class of ’81; Bill Fletcher, Class of ’74; Chuck Faris, Class of ’84; Allen Saum, Class of ’74; Michelle Hannon, Class of ’88; Ruben Nogueira, Class of ’83; Dave Prugh, Class of ’85; Daniel Cunningham, Class of ’87; Jim Rice, Class of ’85; Alan Black, Class of ’78; William Henry, Class of ’64; Robert Dodson, Class of ’84; Joe Gonzalez, Class of ’74; John Alexander, Class of ’85; Jim White, Class of ’80; Craig O’Connor, Class of ’68; Rachel Robardey, Class of ’83; Will Rodriguez, Class of ’85; Kelly Zachgo, Class of ’80; Kari Hadley, Class of 2000; K.C. Baran, Class of ’92; Kevin Kelly, Class of ’80; Dennis Gum, Class of ’74; Chris Markwood, Class of ’85; Bill Rychener, Class of ’80; Phillip May, Class of ’80; Ron Massey, Class of ’92; Richard McCaughey, Class of ’80; Mark Jensen, Class of ’74; Lorraine Lesieur, Class of ’83; Mike Merrill, Class of ’84; Lynn Lancaster, Class of ’81; Jimmy Kim, Class of ’89; Tom Schmidt, Class of ’74; Gordon Bell, Class of ’85; Michael Crocker, Class of ’74; Julie Delphin, Class of ’84; Jim Clawson, Class of ’83; Susan Moench, Class of ’81; Ed Evans, Class of ’76; David Cole, Class of ’87; Mike Ford, Class of ’80.
The Time to Stand is Now: West Point Alumni for Trump, an Online Community of 756 West Point Graduates, Encourages Rep. Eastman to Hold the Line
As graduates of West Point, we want to encourage Representative David Eastman (R-Wasilla) to continue to hold the line in the Alaska Legislature. Some argue that the way to bring America together is to silence any who stand against the woke mob. The unspoken promise is that by silencing those who do not cower to the mob, the mob will quiet down and finally be at peace. If only that were true. Those who work overtime to shout down and silence the voices of their political opponents only grow emboldened when the rest of us politely take a step back. The time to stand is now!
We stand against the silencing of dissent, against the politics of personal destruction, against guilt by accusation, guilt by association, and every effort to curtail the right of Americans to speak freely concerning the political issues of our day. We believe the solution for bad political speech isn’t less speech, but more speech. In the rush to silence their political opponents, woke activists now openly attack not only those who question woke orthodoxy, but also those who have the courage to stand and support the right of others to question it. This is a national phenomenon, and those who cherish this country must stand against it; from Alaska to Florida, and every community in between.
We have watched as the woke mob, supported by members of the media, turned its ire on individuals like Nick Sandmann, Kyle Rittenhouse, Donald Trump and our fellow graduates engaged in active public service or political competition. To stand against these attacks, even anonymously, was to be guilty by association. Following media publication of hacked donor data from Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund, police lieutenant William Kelly was publicly attacked and fired. He had made an anonymous $25 donation. Paramedic Craig Shepherd was publicly attacked and lost his job as well. He had made a $10 anonymous donation to permit Kyle Rittenhouse to defend himself in court. Danielle Reiss is one of countless Americans who lost their jobs for the crime of attending a speech given by President Trump.
More recently, woke activists are now attacking Republican legislators, including fellow West Point graduate David Eastman in Alaska. Following media publication of hacked donor and membership data from the Oath Keepers website, public servants who joined Oath Keepers are now being publicly attacked. We are now told that the 38,000 veterans, service members, first responders, and other public servants who pledged to honor their oaths to the United States Constitution as Oath Keepers should be cancelled and resign from public service for doing so. Some graduates of our alma mater have even added their names to a letter written by a former Democrat staffer who now demands that elected Representative David Eastman (R-Wasilla) forfeit the right to represent his Republican district and be expelled from the legislature for becoming a member of Oath Keepers twelve years ago.
It is truly terrifying to think of inviting those in government to override the will of the people in an election in order to cancel their political opponents and exclude them from public life.
President Truman warned that “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”
Neither Representative Eastman nor any other public servant should be removed from office, or forced to lose their job, for joining an organization whose only requirement for membership is a commitment to honor one’s oath to the United States Constitution. Unlike many other nations, new American citizens service members and public servants are required to take an oath, not to the government or a political leader or group, but to the Constitution of the United States. The oath of allegiance for American Citizenship ends “so help me God.”
This oath, supported by individual conscience, is a reminder to every American citizen that the Constitution is a higher standard than what is politically expedient. Yes, it is an even higher standard than the moral dictates of a woke mob, and when those dictates come against an individual’s constitutional rights, it is the responsibility of each of us who have taken that oath to stand up.
Whether or not they choose to join organizations for that purpose, we call on all public servants to honor the oath they have taken to the one document which brings all Americans together, no matter how disparate their political views; the Constitution of the United States.
I am truly grateful for the encouragement both from those here in Alaska, and those outside. I am especially grateful to the graduates above, who have taken a stand, knowing that the other side is often intolerant of any who stand in their way. As Americans who love this country, it is time we stand.
This week, my staff has handled a number of calls from well-wishers here in Alaska. Those are the calls they enjoy receiving. They’ve also received calls from haters as far away as Michigan and Minnesota.
I am proud to be standing up for the rights of every Alaskan today, and I’m reminded that this isn’t about individuals, and it isn’t about me. This is about the rights of every individual, and the type of government that we will one day leave to our children. That cause is far larger than any one of us, and will require us to set aside comforts and personal differences, and stand together.
Standing,
Alaska State Representative
