This Memorial Day, the best way to honor our war dead is doing whatever it takes to prevent more deaths in the future.
So, go ahead and salute the flag, attend the parade marching down Main Street, and proudly sing the National Anthem. Just be aware that none of these overt displays of cushy patriotism will matter much beyond making us all feel a little more fuzzy about ourselves without the fortitude of pledging to save our sons and daughters from hiking off into the next pointless war risking dismemberment, and even death.
Want to be brave? Do something different this year. First off, starting asking tough questions.
Whatever it takes, whatever needs to be done, and by any means necessary ? all Americans who profess to care so deeply for the courageous men and women serving this nation must assure those in uniform that they won?t be used as sacrificial pawns on a twisted checkerboard of global power politics. That?s precisely what they have been, and indeed what all modern wars have been ? muscle-flexing acts of mass insanity led by chicken hawks who have never personally felt the sting of combat, yet who have no moral compunction whatsoever against giving orders for others to die. From the debacle of Vietnam some 50 years ago, to Afghanistan and Iraq more recently ? three infuriatingly futile wars each lasting more than a decade, more than three times as long as America?s involvement in World War II ? we?ve been continuously misled, lied to, and ultimately victimized by politicians, a lazy and complicit media, and nefarious corporations which conspire to fan the flames of regional and global conflict because it?s good for business.
Looking back now,
cont'
So, go ahead and salute the flag, attend the parade marching down Main Street, and proudly sing the National Anthem. Just be aware that none of these overt displays of cushy patriotism will matter much beyond making us all feel a little more fuzzy about ourselves without the fortitude of pledging to save our sons and daughters from hiking off into the next pointless war risking dismemberment, and even death.
Want to be brave? Do something different this year. First off, starting asking tough questions.
Whatever it takes, whatever needs to be done, and by any means necessary ? all Americans who profess to care so deeply for the courageous men and women serving this nation must assure those in uniform that they won?t be used as sacrificial pawns on a twisted checkerboard of global power politics. That?s precisely what they have been, and indeed what all modern wars have been ? muscle-flexing acts of mass insanity led by chicken hawks who have never personally felt the sting of combat, yet who have no moral compunction whatsoever against giving orders for others to die. From the debacle of Vietnam some 50 years ago, to Afghanistan and Iraq more recently ? three infuriatingly futile wars each lasting more than a decade, more than three times as long as America?s involvement in World War II ? we?ve been continuously misled, lied to, and ultimately victimized by politicians, a lazy and complicit media, and nefarious corporations which conspire to fan the flames of regional and global conflict because it?s good for business.
Looking back now,
cont'
