This isn’t a typical Memorial Day piece.
I’m not going to expound on the history of the holiday, nor will I exalt those who gave their lives in defense of these United States. There has been no shortage of that already, as is proper, but I see no need to add to it this year.
Instead, I’m going to ask a simple question, and I hope that you consider the answer carefully:
What would those who laid down their lives in defense of this nation, and the ideals it claims to stand for, think about America today?
That’s my question this Memorial Day. I know what my answer is, and it’s not terrible flattering or hopeful.
If we could speak with the ghosts of the fallen, what would they say about the “fortified” election of 2020? What would they say, those who died for the Union cause, about demands for reparations by the great-great-great-great-grandchildren of the slaves they died to free? What would those who died for the Confederacy, the vast majority of whom never owned slaves, say about the shift from “these” to “the” United States, and the crushing power of the federal government that has grown up in the decades since? What would they say, having laid down their lives for freedom and liberty in other lands, about the Patriot Act, FISA Courts, and the J6 gulag? What would those honorable dead say about the corruption that permeates our government at every level, but especially at the highest levels—and has for decades?
When they marched off to war, they did so believing they were fighting for what was right, and just, and true. That is why we honor them today.
If they could see our country—that was once their country—today? Would they say it was worth it?
I weep for my once storied country.
Many moons ago I was unaware we started on that slippery slope to where we are today.