Leadership Quote by Robert Kagan

A neat civics lesson with a sharp edge: Kagan turns obedience into virtue, then dares you to notice what gets smuggled in with it. The line performs a kind of constitutional ventriloquism. By invoking "our Constitution", he borrows the authority of the founding document to settle what is really a live, messy question of power: when, and how loudly, should uniformed leaders dissent from a commander in chief they think is wrong?

The key phrase is "no choice". It’s not just descriptive; it’s disciplinary. It narrows the acceptable public role of generals to a two-step: private candor, public unity. That framing protects civilian control of the military, a cornerstone of liberal democracy, but it also quietly protects presidents from accountability-by-expertise. If the generals must "endorse" after advising, then the public sees consensus even when there is conflict. The audience is implicitly the media class and policy ecosystem that treats generals as truth-tellers in uniform; Kagan is warning them not to confuse backstage argument with onstage legitimacy.

Context matters: post-Vietnam skepticism, post-9/11 wars, and the recent temptation to draft military leaders into domestic political battles. Kagan, a prominent voice in national security debates, is arguing for institutional hygiene: keep the brass from becoming an alternate elected branch. The subtext, though, is that constitutional order can be used as a shield for strategic misadventure. You can be right about the principle and still end up laundering bad decisions through mandatory loyalty.