“Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service.” – Wikipedia
Though the description of Memorial Day does not specifically define the ‘reason’ the military was called forth when these people died for our country, most comments you see regarding them suggest they were defending the sovereignty of our nation or the Freedoms of the American people. My feeling, then, is that we should honor these people every single day and stop willingly handing away the Freedoms they died for in the past, and stop putting their lives at risk in the future, when it is not to defend the sovereignty of our nation or the Freedoms of its people. Why should these people be dying to support Afghani rebels, or Iraqi rebels, or Libyan rebels…when none of these countries are actually attacking our nation or threatening our sovereignty or Freedoms??? Our country is not presently at War…with anyone! We have not issued a Declaration of War against any country since June 5th, 1942. All other recent uses of the term War in present day operations and conflicts (though some legitimately approved by Congress) are misnomers…Gulf War (actually Operation Desert Storm), war in Afghanistan (actually Operation Enduring Freedom) [ double misnomer there!!! ], Iraq War (actually Operation New Dawn), War in Libya (actually Operation Odyssey Dawn).
I think many of those brave people you honor today would be appalled by your hypocritical use of the word “Freedom” on such a day. What did they die for if you are just willing to hand it all away and negate the entire ideology you honor today?
Now go buy that large capacity soda with your currency that says “In God We Trust”; shoot that deer on your property for food out of hunting season; buy that non-prescription over the counter Sudafed for your cold without an ID and signature; collect the rainwater that falls on your property; harvest your hemp; buy a $10,000+ motorcycle with Cash and ride that motorcycle helmetless across country w/ no insurance…with your handgun or a concealed fixed blade knife for self defense protection; do this without a state ID or passport but carry that GPS tracking device on your cell phone with you in your pocket; do so without your actions being videotaped by randomly placed cameras, satellite images or drones; try sleeping at a rest stop if you get tired; find employment without a drug test and complete background check into your personal life; wear your shirt that says “I support the Second Amendment” to that job (or school) without being terminated or suspended; distill your own alcohol for fuel or consumption; try posting some of this activity to Facebook and not getting arrested; while also trying to keep your job when not providing your employer with your Facebook ID and Password; try expressing your 1st Amendment rights; try enforcing your 2nd Amendment rights; try defending your 4th Amendment rights; try securing your 5th Amendment rights with the spreading of assumptive information by the media; try receiving 6th Amendment rights before being labeled a “terrorist” for what was otherwise merely a criminal act, try getting to 8th Amendment rights when your 6th Amendment rights were circumvented through “terrorist” semantics; try suggesting you even Have 9th or 10th Amendment rights; try expressing any of these Constitutional rights while owning Legal books such as military manuals, Chemistry books, Neurobiology books, survival books, Psychology books, Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’, weapons manuals, martial arts books, Playboy or Hustler magazines…or books on how to stay off the grid or be digitally anonymous…without these legal possessions ultimately being used as evidence of some other criminal activity; try going without health insurance while willing to suffer the consequences of not being able to afford and receive treatment should something happen; try taking herbal medications that have proven to work and have subsequently been banned because they hindered the sales of pharmaceuticals; try starting your own small business when the barriers to entry through fees, licenses, registrations, permits, insurance, work comp etc. leave only large capitalized firms to start new businesses, or often require small startups to circumvent the laws long enough to gain momentum or borrow money from many of the banks that are now allowed to own stock in your startups competition having a conflict of interest in seeing you fail while still collecting the interest on money you still owe them either way, or turn to a VC firm who will need to dilute your ownership in your company in order to provide the capital for a fair risk/reward scenario in doing so; try questioning any of this without fallaciously being deemed anti-American or a terrorist; and worst of all, try being homeless and see how free you really are.
Now, if you don’t like it you are free to leave the country, right? Try leaving the country with more than $10,000+ of your assets in cash, try leaving the country without ID (even Mexico and Canada requires ID now), try exporting your American assets without export restrictions and taxes on the things you already own. There may not be a wall, but you aren’t even as free to leave as you think.
I could go on all day about the Freedoms that you no longer have, but have become acclimated to no longer receiving, because they haven’t yet All been taken away. These brave men and women gave their lives for something. If you truly want to honor them today, maybe you should stop and take a moment to think about what that ‘something’ actually means before you throw around the word “Freedom.” If you want to honor these brave men and women every day, then be just as brave and stop voting for politicians whose goal is to restrict your Freedoms for the sake of some pseudo security or make policies ‘less American’ in ideology merely for the sake of appeasing foreign nations..and stop accepting the intrusion upon the Freedoms of the lives of the many due to the actions of a very few for no other reason than overblown and irrational fears that your mortal life is directly being threatened by something or someone that only your government can protect you from.