Memorial Day, And Why I Despise The American Military

People often say we should "respect" Memorial Day, "respect" "those who gave their lives for our country". For this reason, criticism of the evil that is our military is shunned. All days, but this day in particular. Save it for another day, they say. As if there's ever any day that criticism of the military is considered one of those "rights" our mercenaries presume to fight for.

It's also said, that for evil to prevail, good men must do nothing.

All human institutions seek to protect and increase their own power. This is natural and to be expected; it is a natural outgrowth of the Darwinian impulse to survive best; human institutions follow the human character.

The American military is no exception. The fact is, the military has never seen a war it didn't like, no matter how unjust or unnecessary, and has always been willing to lie to the American people and their leaders, to oppress and commit violence against American citizens, in the service of its own self-serving agenda.

Ever seen that poster, "Loose Lips Sink Ships"? To this day, most people still believe that the intent of that poster was to defeat Nazi intelligence efforts. But as a matter of historical fact, the actual rationale for that poster, was the Navy's desire to silence criticism of its profound incompetence at defending the New England coastline against U-boat operations. To the Navy, the lives and property of tens of millions of New Englanders, were less important than their own institutional aggradizement.

1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were unanimously convinced military action was necessary to solve the problem. (Never mind that the USSR could nuke the continental US from Vladvostok and that the US had missiles equally close to Moscow from Turkey, and it hadn't been casus belli). Kennedy was convinced that the problem could be resolved peacefully, and when the military was thus deprived of an opportunity to justify itself, they instead complained about continental air defense (against ballistic missiles?) being overstretched and that, therefore, the American people didn't understand, or appreciate, the heroism of flying in circles over Florida. Oh, and JFK wound up dead, so, that was the last word on that!

It's true today. The military covered up the suspicious death of Pat Tillman to friendly fire, not because of any legitimate security concern, but because the Army was worried that if the American people knew the truth of whatever actually happened, it would undermine support for the war, and by extension, the Army. These are anecdotes, of course, but they are representations of the general modus operandi of the American military: war allows the American military to justify its own existence, therefore, the military has never seen a war it didn't like.

It isn't a coincidence that veteran associations (whose active membership represents the minority of those who were conscripted) come out banging the war drums whenever there's talk of invading some hapless third world country or that our military is comprised disproportionately of the most ignorant and low-class Americans. There is a very wise Chinese saying, "The worst iron for nails; the worst men for soldiers."

Therein lays the fallacy of those who say things like, "Don't blame the troops for the decisions of their leaders". Of course we should blame the troops - that is the flip side of being a "volunteer" - you don't get to say "I fought because I had to." At best, it boils down to pleading stupidity. It's no coincidence that union workers are fanatically supportive of their unions or that people on welfare always vote against anyone who talks about reforming Social Security. If you're on the take, you're on the take; the military has a good five million people on the take.

When an American soldier presumes to blame politicians for the problems of this nation, what the American soldier is really saying is, "I hate the United States of America, sir. I hate democracy, sir."

Yet every soldier does this and nothing is thought of it. It speaks volumes about what American soldiers REALLY think of America and our freedoms.

Our politicians - their faults the mirror image of the American people - ARE America. They are what those soldiers presume to be fighting for (it couldn't be the paycheck that keeps them from having to work at McDonalds?) and to blame the politicians shows the American soldier's contempt for the American people and American freedom.

Memorial Day, our "respect" for our military, is nothing but the American military's selfish, traitorous use of the American people as 350 million human shields for its own nefarious self-interest. And that is why that "respect" must always be assaulted, at every opportunity, by any means available.

I would like to close with a quote from Alexander Hamilton, the main contributor to the US Constitution:

"In a country [which is often subject to and always apprehensive of foreign invasions, and thus keep standing armies maintained through direct taxation], the contrary of all this happens.

"The perpetual menacings of danger oblige the government to be always prepared to repel it; its armies must be numerous enough for instant defense. The continual necessity for their services enhances the importance of the soldier, and proportionably degrades the condition of the citizen.

"The military state becomes elevated above the civil. The inhabitants of territories, often the theatre of war, are unavoidably subjected to frequent infringements on their rights, which serve to weaken their sense of those rights; and by degrees the people are brought to consider the soldiery not only as their protectors, but as their superiors.

"The transition from this disposition to that of considering them masters, is neither remote nor difficult; but it is very difficult to prevail upon a people under such impressions, to make a bold or effectual resistance to usurpations supported by the military power."

I will leave you with the musings of Hamilton to consider this Memorial Day.