Loyalty by Oath: An Essay on the Extortion of Love

Nothing is more mysterious than loyalty. To be loyal is to love, to be true to something. Who knows what prompts the movings of the spirit? Who knows what makes a man ready to lay down his life? If a man were able to know even himself, and the frame of his own love and loyalty, he would know more than most of us do.

The times are dangerous. We are engaged in a great world war, a war that tests the foundations of our society, economy, and government, against a power that threatens values we believe are precious. Our competence to deal with the forces that play upon us never seemed less certain. The risks we run in the name of freedom never seemed more grave. We are held together by a common view of man and how he ought to live—or else we are not held together at all. In such times it is easy to understand our passion to know whether we can trust our fellow citizens.