This was first published in the fall of 2009 at Northern Illinois Liberty
This has been my first Veterans Day as an outspoken and staunch non-interventionist. I would conclude that this is not our favorite holiday. Non-interventionists are just not popular on Veterans Day, for obvious reasons. We are different, we stick out, we look just a bit crazy, maybe a little selfish, unpatriotic, oh well, I won’t go on. So what exactly is it about us? Why are we so dogmatic, and almost Scrooge-ish about Veterans Day?
I could say a lot to answer that, but I won’t. I just had a few thoughts on the subject, and thought I’d write it down.
All over the news day they are talking about the men and women who have given up their lives for America.
That sounds very good, sounds almost like something the Ministry of Peace might put out…okay, I’ll refrain from going there. I always end up quoting 1984, wonder why.
We are gravely told that these men and women have sacrificed their lives for our freedom, for our country.
Well, theoretically, if we wanted to be logically consistent,we should have a Jihadist Day too. I mean, there are men and women around the world who have given up their lives for their country, for their religion. What is the difference?
Yes, the Jihadists come over here and bomb our buildings and kill our citizens.
But do you think we don’t do that over in Iraq and Afghanistan? Let’s not be naive, of course we do.
Pardon me, if I am missing some crucial detail, but um…what is the difference between our troops over there, and the Muslims radicals over here?
And um, I hate to bring this up, but what happened to being a city on the hill? Setting an example for the world? As one author aptly put it, instead of being a city on a hill, we’re trying to “hillify” the world.
One more tiny objection…am I the only one in America with qualms about the current wars being unconstitutional? Does that not concern anyone else? The Constitution says that Congress must declare war, but in these cases, the president just did it.
So that’s why I am a non-interventionist, and while I admire those who give their lives, I admire the American military as much as any other group of people through out history who sacrificed their lives for something that they believed in.
That’s why I think we should go back to celebrating Armistice Day, and celebrate the end of war and the renewal of peace.
