Memorial Day

I can't help but feel very ambivalent about Memorial Day. It just seems as though this holiday is often manipulated (by the media) to celebrate U.S. militarism rather than contemplate what the deaths of literally millions of young lives in our nation's wars means. When I first moved to Washington, DC many years ago, every Memorial Day I would walk down to the National Mall to see what was going on. I vividly remember the overwhelming roar of motorcycles parading down Constitution Ave. But even more so, I remember being drawn to the memorial to the Vietnam War. When you read the names of all of those people who died in that war...all those 18 year old men and women whose lives were cut down before their time...well, you can't help but question whether all of these wars we continue to fight are worth it.

We tell ourselves that our wars are necessary to defend our freedoms. Yet when was the last time an external enemy REALLY threatened our freedoms--our freedom of speech, of assembly, etc.?  Indeed, it's usually during times of war when our freedoms are most at risk from our own government. History is replete with such examples. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1918 during WWI, Japanese-Americans were infamously confined to camps during WWII. Today, it's the so-called "War on Terror" that most directly threatens our freedoms. And that threat isn't from al-Qaeda or ISIS. It's from a government that secretly monitors the communications of American citizens, and even goes so far as performing targeted assassinations against U.S. citizens accused of aiding and abetting the enemy.  The last direct threat to the security and freedom of Americans was probably the War of 1812, when the British succeeded in burning down the Capitol. If we were able to be honest with ourselves about the vast majority of wars we undertake, we would be forced to confront the ugly reality that young men and women aren't dying to protect our freedoms, but rather our power and privileges. And especially the power and privileges of that small elite that controls that vast majority of the country's wealth and their representatives in the government.  

It's my belief that war should be the very last resort to resolving an international conflict. We have an obligation to the men and women of our armed services not to send them into harm's way and put them in situations in which they are forced to kill other human beings and to risk being killed or injured in return unless it is absolutely necessary to prevent a greater "evil."  We tell ourselves that we are reluctant warriors who only fight under these conditions. Unfortunately, the historical record does not support this belief. It is my hope that Memorial Day will give more of us pause to think about these issues and to do everything in our power not to send our men and women off to war.