Memorial Day offers many events and activities for families this year. Barbecues and parades are standard fare. For those who are looking for more, there are a wide array of trips and cruises available to help the family get away.
But let’s remember that Memorial Day is a day filled with a sense of gravity for all those that lived serving their country, while many died. Let’s honor their sacrifice and bravery, first observed and celebrated on May 30, 1868.
I remember a “trite” political slogan used by certain presidential candidates in 2004, 2008, 2012 and I suspect we will hear it again in 2016. They said, are you safer now than you were before 9-11? The intent of the slogan was to suggest that only warmongers and the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) keep’s America safe from its enemies. But I ask, “Are you safer now than you were BEFORE WWII?”
I’m old enough to know that every war fought since WW-II was predicated on political lies, that the first casualty of war is truth, and that ours ripped a golden thread from the fabric of our society.
I’m old enough to know that all wars since WW-II have secured less freedom than greater freedom, that they have created more problems (both home and abroad for Americans) than less.
I’m old enough to remember the immortal words of Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961. He said the vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment, that our arms must be mighty and ready for instant action so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. And then he warned: the policy and monetary relationships which exist between legislators, and our national armed forces, and the arms industry that support these relationships, including political contributions, and political approval for military spending, and lobbying to support bureaucracies, and oversight of the industry will become an iron triangle.
The collaboration of an immense (MIC) and a large arms industry is now the NORM in the American experience. It is, in my opinion, dangerous and may prove to be fatal to your liberties.
These influences, economic, political, and even spiritual, are felt in every city, and every hamlet, village, statehouse and in every office of the federal government. We must recognize its danger and not fail to comprehend its grave implications.
Memorial Day 2015 ought to be a day of resolution. Our total resources and livelihood are involved. The very infrastructure of our society is involved in what we do.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influences, whether sought or unsought by the (MIC). The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist if, “We, the people…” do not check it at the polls.
It seems to this writer that we need a paradigm shift from making war, and invading countries and so called nation building to peace-making.
What’s wrong with trying to negotiate with our enemy? We negotiated 70 years with our equal in military might, the Soviet Union. It was successful.