What Did We Fight For

Memorial Day is traditionally a day set aside to honor those who’ve lost their lives in the military. Those who have laid down one’s life in the service, we hope, of some greater cause/good: freedom, justice, peace or safety. In 2022, it’s hard to believe anymore that our country did not sacrifice these brave men and women on false pretenses.

America has spent the last 70 years as a global superpower, interfering with and shaping the world to its own liking. In that time, we’ve more often invaded countries seeking freedom From exploitation, than we have actually invested in building democracy and self-autonomy. Despite our protestations of innocence and righteousness on the world stage, a sober accounting of our actions from South America, to Africa to the Middle East and Asia shows a very different story, one dominated by wealthy corporate interests and capital.

This in-and-of-itself, should be enough to bring the wailing damnation of our brave fallen soldiers echoing through history, yet there are some who will still argue with a straight face that all the suffering and violence abroad was a necessary sacrifice to ensure peace and prosperity at home. To be clear, this argument is morally bankrupt and built upon shoddy assumptions and hateful bigotry, yet because a counterfactual is so difficult to prove, the seeming prosperity of America gave cover to these monstrous claims and those making them.

Now as we look around, even those illusions have evaporated. Where is the prosperity? Where is the peace? Where is the safety? We are underpaid and saddled with student loan debt. We can’t afford healthcare. Our civil liberties and rights are being stripped from us before our very eyes. We can’t even keep our children safe! Shooting after shooting, the deaths mount, the horror and despair grows. Parents try to buy bulletproof backpacks, because we Know that our government WILL NOT ACT to keep our children safe from the violence. The same logic used abroad, turned inward, on our own country: profits over people, but instead of soldiers, the fallen are children.

There is no number of kids killed which will move the “hearts” of the Republican politicians to support ANY legislation to address this deadly epidemic. It doesn’t matter if nearly 90% of Americans want some of this legislation or not! That’s just not how these decisions are made. The only thing these politicians care about is the NRAs checks, and the points they score in the culture war. Beating these merchants of death is going to take a concerted combination of political and economic power, wielded on behalf of the people of this country, against the death cult strangling American politics. So join us each Tuesday in growing solidarity, until we make this country a safe place for every child to grow up!

#DSOT

#UPM