Op-Ed by Gen. Michael A. Flynn
The United States is entering a historic crossroads. At home, trust in institutions is collapsing. Abroad, the world is becoming more unstable and more dangerous. Together, these forces are converging into a single test that will arrive with the next midterm elections. The biggest threat our nation faces isn’t overseas; it is right here at home.
This is not just another election cycle. In the current geopolitical environment with wars, energy shocks, sovereign debt concerns, cyber threats, censorship regimes, and economic realignments, the United States cannot afford a domestic crisis of legitimacy. Yet that is exactly what is building.
The world is moving quickly toward a more fragmented order. Rival powers are forming new blocs and alternative financial systems. Energy routes and shipping lanes are contested. Cyber attacks on infrastructure are no longer rare events; they are normal background noise. Information warfare is constant and often invisible. In that kind of world, a nation needs internal cohesion and predictable institutions.
Instead, many Americans believe they see one set of rules for political insiders and another set for ordinary citizens. They see selective enforcement of the law, selective prosecution, and selective media outrage. When intelligence abuses go unpunished, financial crimes are brushed aside, corporate and government collusion is ignored, and years of lies about major scandals are quietly rewritten, they draw a logical conclusion: the system protects itself.
If this perception is not confronted with visible accountability, it will not simply vanish. It will explode at the ballot box, in public discourse, and in the way people relate to the government itself.
If there is no clear sign of accountability before the midterms, voter participation will split into two extremes. Some citizens will stay home in disgust, convinced that voting does not matter because the same people remain in charge regardless of the result. Others will become more energized and more radical, looking for any candidate who promises to disrupt the system. The center becomes hollow.
Elections keep happening, but they no longer settle disputes. They become episodes in a continuing war over who controls the machinery of power.
The trajectory can change if there is visible, credible movement toward real accountability before the midterms. The choice is still in front of us: Accountability now or instability later.
Michael T. Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as a national security advisor during President Trump’s first term.