Putin’s Tyranny

Russia has invaded the Ukraine, in a wanton act of pure tyranny and aggression.  Just like in the 1930s, bad actors seek the control and dominion of other nations for purely selfish reasons.  They want what others have and mean to take it by force.  

Putin, the leader of Russia, will go down in history as just another thuggish dictator like Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon and Abraham Lincoln.  There is a nasty impulse in people that makes them want absolute control of others, and they are adamant that their desires are sacrosanct and holy.  This lust for power is the ugliest of human impulses and how to control and contain it is a perpetual problem of those who seek liberty.  

Memorial Day 2016: Did Our Soldiers Die for Freedom?

Memorial Day, 2016.  I am rather apathetic about Memorial Day this year.  The Zeitgeist has determined that Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines are to be written out of American history and inclusion.  Monuments and memorials to these veterans are being desecrated and eradicated in a fanatical frenzy all over the country.  Placement of Confederate flags on Confederate graves is forbidden in national cemeteries.  Perhaps at some point, Confederate tombstones will be bulldozed, lest Black Thugs Matter be offended by men 150 years dead.

American soldiers have not always fought for freedom, though we like to attach that flowery phrase to their mortal sacrifices.  The American fighting man did indeed fight for freedom in the Revolutionary War and World War II, as well as Korea and Vietnam.  In those wars they opposed an enemy dedicated to the destruction of self-determination and self-governance.

Of course, in Korea and Vietnam, our troops fought for the freedom of someone else, not Americans.  Perhaps our involvement can be rationalized by the belief that, if Communist aggression were allowed to proceed unchecked, then our own freedom would be jeopardized in the near future.  Was the death toll worth it?  The answer is subjective.  I am happy that Korea was spared from the collectivist tyranny, and I regret that the Democrat Party sold our Vietnamese allies down the river.

Other wars in our history are not as clear cut.  Did we fight for freedom in the Civil War?  Yes and no.  The South fought for the right to govern itself; the North fought to prevent it.

Did we fight for freedom in the Spanish-American war?  If so, it isn't obvious to me.  Likewise in the Mexican war of the 1840s. Texas fought to secede from Mexico and govern itself, so as far as Texas is concerned, they were indeed fighting for freedom, i.e. Texas independence.  Mostly, however, that war was merely a land grab.  Mexico had lands that we wanted, and we took them by force.

Did we fight for freedom in World War I?  No.  We probably should never have gotten involved.  It is said that we were fighting "to make the world safe for democracy."  What balderdash.  If anything, we fought to defend our allies in Britain and France against the Germans -- kinfolk supporting kinfolk in a time of crisis, even though there was no clear-cut case of good vs evil.  World War I was a confused and chaotic mess without any clear goals for either side.  To this day I cannot tell you what the two sides were fighting for.  It remains a mystery.

Did we fight for freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan?  The answer seems clear:  no.  I think we fought there to destroy the threat of attacks by Islamists against other Islamists and against ourselves.  The theory was that by turning Iraq and Afghanistan into modern democracies, they would lose their aggressive tendencies, much as Germany and Japan did after their defeat in World War II.  This was prefaced on the mistaken belief that all peoples, everywhere, secretly yearn for democracy and individual freedom.  They do not so yearn in Muslim countries, or at least, the majority do not.  They want to be ruled by fanatical clerics and Sharia law.  Attempting to turn these barbarian cultures into modern, pluralistic democracies was a fool's errand from the start.  Most of the American lives lost there were wasted.

Not all American soldiers and sailors and marines died "for freedom."  Although we should keep our military strong and ready, it should not be used to enter ambiguous wars where there is no clear threat to our own freedoms.  The lives of our sons and daughters are too precious to waste.

Memorial Day, 2015

In the past I have posted pictures and poems dedicated to our fallen heroes.  Rather than try and top those efforts today, I will merely refer the reader to those earlier posts.  This post is an update of one I created for Memorial Day, 2010.

1.  Memorial Day, 2014:  Did They Die In Vain?  A reflection on how modern politicians have betrayed those who fought and died for our country.

2.  Memorial Day, 2013:  Freedom Isn't Free.  A video.

3.  Memorial Day, 2012:  Better Men Than I.  A commentary  on several great fighting men who made the ultimate sacrifice in war.

4.  Memorial Day, 2011:  The Confederate Memorial in Arlington Cemetery.  Jewish VMI Cadet Moses Ezekiel, a personal hero of mine.

5.  Memorial Day, 2009:  The American Cemetery in Normandy, France, containing the dead from the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944.

6.  Memorial Day 2008:  Photos from friends, depicting those who died in war.

7.  Memorial Day 2007:  Thoughts on a local sailor who died in 1969.

8. Memorial Day 2006:  The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; poem, The Bivouac of the Dead.

9.  Major John McCrae:  The Story of "In Flanders Fields."  This is probably the best post on the subject of Memorial Day.

10.  Remembering Pearl Harbor and the lessons of history.

11.  Memorial Service for the Crew of the U.S.S. Grunion (WWII Submarine).  Video and song, the Navy Hymn.

12.  Memorial Day Meditations:  Freedom Isn't Free; Alan Seeger's Life and Poem "I Have a Rendezvous with Death."  This probably ties No. 9 as the best post on the subject of Memorial Day.  Alan Seeger was an American who served with the French Foreign Legion, fighting the Germans in World War I France.  Seeger graduated from Harvard University in 1910 -- 105 years ago.

13.  Song & video:  Battle Hymn of the Republic

14.  Story, Song & video:  America the Beautiful

Thanks Veterans!

Today is Veteran's Day.  Thanks to all our vets, either serving or retired from the military.  Although it's true that "freedom isn't free," I have grave doubts about the utility of our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I do not believe that any Islamic nation is compatible with representative democracy.  In short, our efforts to transform barbarians into democrats is a fool's errand.

The lives of our military personnel should not be expended on dubious missions, nor used to "nation build."  I resent the death of every soldier, sailor, airman or marine who is shipped home in a box.