Obedience, Authority, and the Illusion of the Oath

Why We Can’t Count on the Military to Save Us from a Rogue President

Obedience, Authority, and the Illusion of the Oath

Why We Can’t Count on the Military to Save Us from a Rogue President

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter # 585: Monday, October 6th, 2025.

The Oath Isn’t Armor

Every tyrant in history has relied on the same illusion:
That when the order comes down….when the rifles are loaded…when the crowd is chanting…when fear fills the air…those in uniform will “remember their oath.”

They won’t.

Not because they’re bad men or women.
But because they’re human beings.

And as history…and the most disturbing experiments in modern psychology…have shown again and again…humanity’s default under authority isn’t courage. It’s obedience.

The truth is chilling:

Most people will follow an order that violates their conscience if that order comes wrapped in structure…hierarchy…and legitimacy.

That’s not opinion. That’s science.

And it’s why counting on “the good ones” to save us when democracy is under assault is not a plan…it’s a prayer.

The Hidden Human Wiring

In the early 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram asked ordinary Americans to administer electric shocks to strangers in a Yale laboratory.

They weren’t sadists. They were teachers…fathers…secretaries…students…people who read the same newspapers…went to the same churches…and pledged allegiance to the same flag as everyone else.

Each time the “learner” made a mistake…the subject was told to increase the voltage.
The “learner” (an actor) screamed…begged…and finally went silent.
The machine went up to 450 volts…marked “DANGER: SEVERE SHOCK.”

And still…65% of participants obeyed.
They pressed the button. They delivered the shock.
They believed they might be killing someone…and they did it because a man in a lab coat told them to.

Milgram’s conclusion was brutal:

Ordinary people can commit extraordinary evil when they believe the responsibility belongs to someone else.

The Zimbardo Confirmation

A decade later…Philip Zimbardo ran the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment.

He divided a group of college students into “guards” and “prisoners,” gave them uniforms…sunglasses…and a mock jail in the basement of a psychology building.

Within 36 hours…the “guards” began psychologically torturing the “prisoners.”
By day six…Zimbardo had to shut it down.
Some guards had become sadistic…some prisoners had broken down emotionally.

Nothing about the experiment was real…except what it revealed.
You don’t need monsters to get monstrous results.
You just need authority…permission…and role assignment.

Why Oaths Fail

An oath is only as strong as the moment it’s tested.

It’s easy to recite the words “to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” in a calm…air-conditioned room.
It’s harder when your commanding officer says the Constitution is under attack…by the very citizens you’re ordered to suppress.

In those moments…the oath isn’t a shield. It’s a fog.
Everyone interprets it differently.
And human nature…the deep…ancient wiring Milgram and Zimbardo uncovered…pushes people to obey…not to question.

When bullets and orders are flying…conscience is a whisper drowned out by authority’s roar.

The Chain of Command Trap

The most dangerous weapon in any authoritarian movement isn’t propaganda—it’s the chain of command.

Each link passes responsibility up the line:

• “I was following orders.”

• “It came from above.”

• “It wasn’t my call.”

No one feels responsible because everyone is responsible.

Milgram found that participants who were physically closer to the person giving the order were more likely to comply. The authority figure’s presence alone tripled obedience.

Now imagine that figure wearing stars on their shoulders.
Imagine the command isn’t coming from a scientist in a lab coat…but from the Commander-in-Chief.

This is why “remembering the oath” is fantasy.
In the moment of conflict…soldiers don’t deliberate constitutional law…they follow the voice that controls their future.
And when that voice is absolute power…history tells us what happens next.

The Comfort of Authority

Here’s the part most people miss:

Obedience feels good.

It relieves anxiety. It replaces moral conflict with clarity.
It lets you hand your conscience to someone else and say, “You decide. I’ll just do my job.”

That’s why Zimbardo’s “guards” felt powerful and righteous even as they humiliated and abused their peers.
Authority gives the illusion of moral safety…because if the leader says it’s right…it must be right.

Milgram discovered the same thing:

The more authoritative the situation felt…the easier it was for participants to ignore their own discomfort.

In the military…that illusion is weaponized.
From boot camp onward…obedience is trained…tested…rewarded.
And in normal times…that discipline is noble.
But in abnormal times…under an unhinged or vengeful leader…it becomes the perfect machinery for moral collapse.

The Few Who Resist

In Milgram’s study, 35% refused to continue.

In Zimbardo’s, one student…just one…stood up to the “guards” and said, “This isn’t right.”

Those resisters weren’t stronger…smarter…or more educated.
They had one trait in common: internal moral clarity.

They didn’t outsource their conscience.
They didn’t need an authority figure to validate their sense of right and wrong.
They had what Bencivenga would call “character under fire”…a deeply internalized compass that doesn’t spin just because the world does.

But here’s the problem:

That kind of moral independence isn’t taught at scale.
It’s rare.
And it’s exactly what authoritarian systems seek to crush first.

The False Security of Symbols

People love to believe that the uniform itself guarantees morality.
It doesn’t.

The same psychological mechanisms that allowed soldiers in every dictatorship…from Chile to China…Germany to Myanmar…to obey monstrous orders are present in ours.
The uniform amplifies obedience…it doesn’t restrain it.

Flags…ranks…mottos…these are not moral fortifications.
They are emotional camouflage.
They make obedience feel noble…not dangerous.

And when a leader drapes themselves in patriotism while dismantling the principles it stands for…that camouflage becomes lethal.

The Moment of Decision

Here’s how it happens:

The president declares a “state of emergency.”
He claims there’s a threat…rioters…terrorists…subversives.
The media is silenced “for national security.”
Curfews are imposed.

The military is told: “You are the last line of defense for our nation.”
Orders come to secure cities, “neutralize unrest,” detain “agitators.”

Every soldier believes they’re defending America.
But in truth, they’re enforcing control.

Milgram’s volunteers believed they were advancing science.
Zimbardo’s guards believed they were maintaining order.
The difference between a laboratory and a battlefield is only scale.

The Real Safeguard

The only reliable defense against mass obedience isn’t the oath…it’s awareness.

Awareness of how easily human beings surrender autonomy to authority.
Awareness that you and I are not exceptions.
Awareness that democracy survives not because people in power are good…but because ordinary citizens are vigilant.

Milgram once said: “The essence of obedience is that a person views themselves as the instrument for carrying out another person’s wishes.”
The antidote, then…is to stop being an instrument.

And that begins long before the crisis.
It begins with conversations, questions, and moral education.
It begins with civilians reminding each other that liberty isn’t maintained by uniforms…it’s maintained by individuals who think…question…and refuse to delegate conscience.

Action: Build Internal Resistance

My dad would put it bluntly:

Don’t assume someone else will save your ass.

Don’t assume the soldiers will disobey.
Don’t assume the courts will intervene.
Don’t assume that “the system” will self-correct.

Systems obey. People resist.

And resistance isn’t a switch you flip when things get bad…it’s a muscle you build when things still feel normal.

You train it by:

• Questioning authority early and often.

• Supporting those who speak out.

• Learning to tolerate discomfort in standing alone.

• Refusing to equate loyalty with obedience.

Because the minute you outsource your moral judgment…you’ve already surrendered the only weapon democracy gives you: personal responsibility.

Loyalty: The Citizen’s Oath

If there’s an oath worth taking, it’s not one recited in boot camp.
It’s the one you take privately…to your own conscience.

I will not participate in harm disguised as patriotism.
I will not trade my humanity for hierarchy.
I will not obey when obedience means betrayal.

That oath doesn’t depend on a president.
It doesn’t depend on rank.
It depends on you.

The Final Word

Milgram’s experiment was never about shocking strangers.
It was about shocking the world awake.

He proved that evil doesn’t start with villains…it starts with people who believe someone else knows best.

Zimbardo showed that power doesn’t corrupt suddenly…it seeps in quietly, wearing mirrored sunglasses and a badge that says “order.”

And together, they left us a message every generation must rediscover:
Freedom survives only when ordinary people refuse to obey.

So don’t count on the oath.
Count on the awareness.
Because when the next “order” comes…and it will—the only question that matters will be the one echoing inside each soldier’s head:
“Am I following the Constitution… or am I following a man?”

Back soon,

-Jack