By Peter Lemiska

Loyalty has always been considered an admirable quality in the business world and in politics — in life in general. Many would argue that loyalty is the foundation upon which any relationship is built.

But what happens when loyalty conflicts with conscience? What if we find ourselves in a situation where we have to choose between doing the right thing and allegiance to some someone, some cause, or some organization?

The radical agenda of today’s Democrat Party will dramatically transform America as we know it. And it leaves traditional Democrat lawmakers caught on the horns of a dilemma.

If radical Democrats have their way, America’s role as a proud world leader will cease to exist, and we will become a country obsessed with self-loathing — deeply and perennially divided by race, economics, and politics. We will become a country where chaos rules, a lawless place where police officers are scorned and law enforcement agencies are dismantled and replaced by social workers and drug distribution centers. The rule of law will become just a meaningless phrase, and those in charge will be free to impose arbitrary laws and regulations that never apply to them. Free and fair elections, the cornerstone of any democracy, will become a thing of the past after Democrats eliminate election safeguards, using health emergencies, social justice, or some other inane excuse to justify their action.

With the current pandemic mostly behind us, Democrat politicians will patiently wait for the next variant or a new epidemic that they’ll use to chip away at more of our personal freedoms and to expand their own political power.

Inflation will continue to rage out of control, spawned by unbridled spending and the elimination of our fossil fuel industry, with no viable alternate energy source on the horizon.

And as millions of migrants from countless poverty-stricken nations continue to scramble across our borders, America will no longer be a melting pot where new citizens assimilate into the American way of life. It will become a morass of balkanized enclaves without even a common language to unite us. The drug epidemic we’re witnessing today will be just a prelude of things to come, as more lethal drugs continue to flow unabated across our borders and Democrats devise ways to more efficiently distribute them.

And the children of America — the future leaders of America — will learn from their radical teachers that all of it is normal; that it’s all good.

That’s the future envisioned by the far-left Democrats, and that’s the dilemma rational Democrat lawmakers face today. Do they blithely follow Joe Biden and the Democrat leadership down this destructive path, or do they show a sliver of moral courage?

It may be just a coincidence that dozens of Democrats from both Houses of Congress have recently decided to retire from public office. Or maybe it’s something else. Psychologists tell us that stressful situations stimulate a fight or flight response. Maybe those lawmakers just decided to flee an impossible situation.

Only three Democrats in Congress have shown enough courage to speak out against Joe Biden’s radical agenda. They haven’t abandoned their traditional Democratic principles, but they recognize insanity when they see it.

Rep. Henry Cuellar is the only Democrat who has voiced opposition to Joe Biden’s open-border policy. He understands that it’s destructive to the country and completely illegal. He knows that the free flow of drugs across our border is killing untold numbers of Americans and that among those unscreened immigrants are hardened criminals and terrorists. He also knows that the arrival of millions of new welfare applicants will drain our social programs of funds intended for American citizens. And he knows that, without medical screening, some are bringing with them various communicable diseases, including the virus that shut down this country for so many months.

And only two Democrats in the U.S. Senate have shown the courage, under immense pressure, to stand up to Biden’s other radical policies. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have been branded as turncoats because they dared to defy the party groupthink. Biden likes to blame them, and only them, for the defeat of his Build Back Better plan. But the plan failed because of 50 rational Republicans and two courageous, clear-thinking Democrats. Biden may not like it, but that’s how our system is supposed to work.

Democrats in Congress may be self-serving, ruthless, and unscrupulous, but they’re not stupid. They see the same things their three intrepid colleagues see, but so far, they’ve shown no courage — only a willingness to abandon their conscience and blindly follow their party leaders.

If they’re having trouble mustering the courage to do what’s right for the country, maybe they can draw some inspiration, or at least some common sense, from Mark Twain, who suggested: “Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.”

Peter Lemiska served in the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Secret Service. Following his retirement from the Secret Service, he spent several years as a volunteer for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.