By Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
MacArthur Society VP for Donor Relations

Greetings, MacArthur Society team!

All right, ladies and gentlemen, this is going fast – hold onto your seats!

DEI is an offshoot of Marxist ideology. Marxism, and its many forms, is an ideology designed for tyrants to subjugate its people and to conqueror countries from the inside out.

SPECTRUM OF WAR

When it comes to warfare, there is a spectrum of attacks, called “The Spectrum of War,” which has both kinetic and non-kinetic elements.

–Kinetic Warfare: bullets, bombs, bayonets.

–Non-Kinetic Warfare: misinformation, diversion, and subversion often reinforced through “community organizing” efforts and not just the media.

The United States is unmatched in terms of kinetic warfare: We are really good at killing bad guys.

When it comes to non-kinetic warfare domestically, the United States has fallen short: We are not  so good at killing bad ideas.

VALUES VS. VIRTUES

One of the most crucial tenets of Marxism strategy is to divorce a society from its moral true north. For the United States, this means divorcing it from the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and our Judeo-Christian heritage, i.e. that which is good and eternal. We are talking about Virtue.

SECWAR Hegseth addressed this in his recent address on the overhaul of our military’s Chaplain Corps, where he states the Department of War is scrapping the United States Army Spiritual Fitness Guide—which mentions God only once:

We are going to make the Chaplain Corps great again. pic.twitter.com/xbKZBdbiSR

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) December 17, 2025

To understand Virtue, it helps to understand “Values.”

Personal and Societal Values are subjective and therefore can, and often do, change.  Values can be corrupted, as Marxist know well.

Virtues on the other hand are immutable character traits recognized as good and eternal.  They are connected to the unalienable rights cited in our Declaration of Independence and protected by our U.S. Constitution.

Someone’s Values may be three men marrying each other and allowing them to adopt children. But is it virtuous? Some of you may actually find that question offensive. Though virtue may be perceived to be offensive, and very often is, virtue is still good. It is still eternal.

PROGRESSIVISM IS A MANIFESTATION OF MARXISM

Don’t be fooled by the pleasant-sounding word of “progress”, particularly when progress means the sleight-of-hand of turning away from virtue.

When a society divorces itself from virtue, it’s just a matter of time before moral relativism seeps and trickles in and an entire society can be “hijacked”, often through a coordinated “spark” or incident to change the way people think and then gain power. In other contexts, this is called a “color revolution.”

MARXISM’S NON-KINETIC ATTACK ON WEST POINT

Back to non-kinetic warfare and Marxism…

What type of weapons does Marxism use to succeed? Take a look at The 45 Communist Goals from author Skousen’s Naked Communist. Every single one of the 45 communist goals is non-kinetic in nature. Also know that many of those goals have been achieved, sadly, and our national defense strategy for decades has neither trained our troops to recognize non-kinetic warfare nor how to defend against it.

“Wait, you mean to tell me that the Marxists plan to defeat the might Untied States of America does not involve firing a single shot?”

Yes.

Now let’s get back to West Point…

What evidence is there that West Point has been infiltrated by progressivism’s “shadow Marxist” ideology?

• • West Point removed the timeless, American warrior virtues of duty, honor, country, from its mission statement, which the superintendent said it was to align with the army “values” West Point deletes ‘duty, honor, country’ from mission statement. Remember that… Exchange of values for virtue. Note that the word “country“ is removed from the army “values“.
  • About a year ago, December 2024, West Point was reprinting the Cadet Chapel pew Bible, but was removing the large West Point Crest from the cover of the Bible and instead put in very small words, United States Military Academy at the bottom. Fortunately, the Honorable SECARMY Daniel Driscoll stood in the gap: Decision to remove West Point crest from chapel Bibles reversed by Secretary of the Army. On its face, removing the crest may seem like just an aesthetic or style change. However, this sends the message that West Point is separating itself from Christianity, albeit in a subtle way. Less subtly, this is the result of Marxism seeping into the West Point culture which has de-valued our Judeo-Christian heritage—which is good for Marxism. Remember, ladies and gentlemen, God is mentioned three times in our Declaration of Independence, and it is written at the top of the US Constitution writes “In the Year of Our Lord,” also known as Ano Domini, “AD” for short.
  • Take a look at the former minority of study offered at West Point in diversity, a major talk given at a diversity forum: “The evolution of cross-dressing in the military and gender norms,” whose words characterize cross dressing as “evolution” and positive. West Point Cadet Projects: Deconstructing Patriotism and Cross-Dressing in the Military
  • This here now is a new issue which a member of the MacArthur Society brought to us about the Cadet honor code system (that is, how the honor code is administered), that the Cadet honor code should involve both “truth and equity.” Equity? Not equitable, but with Equity?

Did you see that?

Hold on now—when did what qualifies as a lie be a function of “equity”? If someone is “oppressed”, should USMA allow that person more leeway in administering the Cadet honor code? If someone is a white, Christian, heterosexual man, should he have a different standard?

More on the Honor Code and Honor System, the word “vibrant“ was used to describe how the honor code should be administered. Yes, “vibrant”…

• • Oh, and remember June of 2024, when the AOG diverged from the traditional West Point colors of Black, Gray, and Gold—the color of gunpowder components—in exchange for Army Football Pride gear. West Point’s Brand Is Gay.

Imagine the NEW Army Football colors worn during the Army-Navy game for a nationwide audience to see…

Can you see this happening?  Have you seen it happen elsewhere?

THE PROGRESSIVISM OF DEI VS. THE TRADITIONS OF A CLASSICAL EDUCATION

So where is the fight now at West Point and our other service academies?

President Trump and SECWAR Hegseth have issued multiple executive orders and regulations aimed at removing DEI from our military and our service academies.

That’s all we need, right? Wrong.

First off, and I mean it when I say this, how the hell did our military leadership–from the commander-in-chief down to private who just entered the Army–ever allow this to go on?

Every citizen-cadet should understand what is exceptional about our country, about the rights they’re defending, and the enemies we are fighting against, i.e., the ideology and those who use it aimed to take away those God-given rights. And that is BEFORE they go to West Point. The standard for West Point cadets should be even higher; our cadets certainly are “the best and brightest” of our country, but has West Point trained them how the enemy fights and to have the courage to call out the Marxist attacks?

We are a very long way off before we reach that standard, and we have DECADES of Marxist education—both in our public schools and in our service academies working against the United States.

What can we do?

We must realize elevating classical education an important part of the MacArthur Society efforts.

SECWAR Hegseth started on the right track not long ago, through elevating classical learning via making the Classical Learning Text (CLT) to the same level as the SAT and ACT for admission into our service academies.

Unless someone is an educator, they really don’t understand what classical learning/classical education is. I didn’t until a few months ago, and I’m still learning.

Current Progressive Education System Vs. Classical Education
As you can see from above, the entire American education system–including our military academies—have inculcated a type of “shadow Marxism,“ whose purpose is to destroy institutions from the inside out. Marxism calls this “the long march through the institutions.”

Contrarily, classical learning draws as its source Western centers of learning, which are Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem.

The focal point of classical learning is the search for truth, which itself is virtuous.

Virtue or values:

• • Good and eternal versus subjective and corruptible.
  • Classical learning or shadow Marxism.

MacArthur Society members have given us the opportunity to partner with the organization that created the Classical Learning Test, CLT.

Just like there are companies that administers the SAT and ACT, the company that owns and administers the CLT has been energized to participate in reforming our service academies.

Over the past several years, our service academies have basically categorized Marxism simply as a political ideology, which is major failure of all our service academies.

Contrarily, classical education informs the student that Marxism is a dangerous ideology that silently infiltrates the culture and that tyrants use to subject people and destroy countries from within.

Elevating classical education to return to the teaching of virtues that develop character in cadets is an important part of the MacArthur Society efforts.

Where do you and the MacArthur Society fit in? We are engaged in the fight, and you empower the MacArthur Society to stay in the fight.

The above examples are where the MacArthur Society has led the way in reform of West Point, and those are only a few examples of our important work.

With classical education as a foundation at West Point, we will build both warriors and critical thinkers.

These are the kind of leaders a West Point needs.

These are the kind of officers you want to lead your sons and daughters in war.

This is the kind of leader our country needs more!

SUMMARY/CONCLUSION

The MacArthur Society is working on getting the founders of the CLT exam as guest speakers add an upcoming Commander’s Call.

We at the MacArthur Society would like to learn from these important leaders, and we would like to give all of you an opportunity to learn about classical education and empower you and your families.

Thus, at this time of year, when you are considering where to best place your charitable giving, know that the Macarthur Society is a worthy home for your generous tax-deductible donations.

Thank you for being with us on this journey to support, defend and advocate for West Point’s history, purpose, and virtues of Duty, Honor, Country. Thank you for your generous donations!

For Duty, Honor, Country,

Matt