Memorial Day Reminds Us To Remember The Sacrifices Made For Our Freedom
Yesterday, I marched in the Memorial Day Parade as I have for many years. In Appleton, where I live, the parade has a small-town feeling with high school bands playing and marching groups representing various local organizations. Lots of people turn out to watch the parade, too, and the patriotic feeling seems genuine.
Memorial Day reminds us that the freedom we enjoy in the
United States has been dearly bought by people who made great sacrifices to
preserve it, and we march in a parade to make sure that we do not
forget those sacrifices. As Pres. Lincoln said at Gettysburg, “It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.”
We Have Not Always Been Honest
But as I marched in the parade, I could not help remembering
the occasions when we dishonestly asked our children to make great sacrifices.
We sent them off to fight in wars that did not really defend our freedom and which they could not really win. Our children fought for many years in Vietnam,
Iraq and Afghanistan. Each of those wars were lost without diminishing our
freedom here in the United States. They were lost in spite of the fact that our
troops performed superbly in the field. Our children defeated our enemies militarily,
but we did not attain the goals that we had set.
We Set Goals That Could Not Be Reached By Military Means
We did not attain our goals because they were goals that could not be attained by military means. In each case, our goal was to turn the country where we were fighting into a modern democracy, but that is not a goal that can be reached by winning on the battlefield. The reason is that, in order to win on the battlefield in each country, we had to ally ourselves with corrupt and undemocratic local leaders. They were unfortunately, the only ones available to be allies, but in each case, the alliance doomed our efforts fatally. The Vietnamese communists took over as soon as we left Vietnam, and in Afghanistan, the Taliban are now in power. Iraq is a failed state. Nevertheless, we have not lost our freedom at home. So, it is completely clear that we acted dishonestly when we sent our children to war in those places.
We Must Resolve Never Again To Be Dishonest With Our Children
On this Memorial Day we must resolve never again to ask our children to sacrifice themselves in pursuit of goals that no amount of
heroism or bravery can attain. Never again should we send our children to war on false
pretenses.
Well said, David. One of the biggest problems with contemporary American political culture is that many of our political leaders do not value intellectual honesty. Bad input data and wrong assumptions inevitably lead to bad policy and poor outcomes.
ReplyDeleteMy previous comment was not intended to be anonymous. I obviously don't understand how this program works. This is Jerry Z.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we will ever, as a species, find a better way to solve international conflicts. We know that war solves nothing, even makes things worse, but we pursue war as the "quickest" way to force our will. War is simply a money making venture for those who provide the military equipment. Arms dealers get wealthy on the backs of our young men and women who bear the burden of their own deaths. Make love, not war is an old saying that should be promoted amongst world leaders.
ReplyDelete