November 11, 2015
Should we stop calling it Veterans Day? Retweet
By Perry Willis & Jim Babka
Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day. Armistice Day remembered the moment when World War One ended, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. Armistice Day was a valuable holiday. It constantly reminded people of the biggest mistake that politicians ever made — a world war fought over nothing. Alas…
The political class could not abide such a reminder of their folly, and so Armistice Day was eventually changed to something the politicians could exploit — Veterans Day. Whereas Armistice Day highlighted the dangers of militarism, Veterans Day has come to celebrate militarism. Yes, Veterans Day also includes a solemn remembrance of all the young lives lost in past wars, but…
There is never any mention made of the role politicians played in squandering those lives. Instead, a Big Lie is propagated. We’re told that soldiers died to defend freedom or to protect our way of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. We provide a link below to demonstrate that claim. It will take you to a summary history of U.S. wars. As you read that history, please consider the following proposals…
- We can best serve the memory of fallen soldiers by being honest, and by doing our utmost to see that no more lives are squandered in senseless fraudulent wars.
- We should stop letting politicians manipulate us with propagandistic holidays based on lies.
- We should let the politicians celebrate Veterans Day by themselves, without our participation. Instead…
- We should remember Armistice Day, or better yet, give it a new name — Victims of Statism Day.
That would be an even better name, because…
- The State murdered hundreds of millions of people during the 20th Century.
- Many of those victims were actually murdered by soldiers, including U.S. soldiers, or lost their lives due to the unintended consequences of U.S. foreign policy.
- Civilian deaths have far exceeded military deaths, but there is no holiday to memorialize them.
Such a holiday would expose the myths that sustain both statism and militarism. Learn the real history by reading “Has U.S. Military Power Been a Force for Good or Evil?” We can think of few better actions to take on Armistice Day. But one of those actions might be to share this message with someone who will find it interesting.
Perry,
Ok, well while we agree on a lot, and I think you have some valid points you go a little overboard with this one.
First, you wrote: “Yes, Veterans Day also includes a solemn remembrance of all the young lives lost in past wars, but…”
Ok, well true and as a Veteran this is a bit of an issue for me. First, Memorial Day is about remembering the fallen (heroes) and Veterans Day is (supposed to be) about honoring those of US who have served the US Armed Forces defending our country – right or wrong.
You wrote: “There is never any mention made of the role politicians played in squandering those lives. Instead, a Big Lie is propagated. We’re told that soldiers died to defend freedom or to protect our way of life. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Ok, well I partially agree with your sentiment, but this is so far afield (like a lot of Libertarian thinking) that most Americans will absolutely reject this thinking outright. And as a former Marine I can tell you I did sign up to defend freedom and America and protect our way of life whether or not that was true in reality is not relevant. A big lie is being propagated – but don’t use another BIG LIE to defend against it.
You wrote: “We can best serve the memory of fallen soldiers by being honest, and by doing our utmost to see that no more lives are squandered in senseless fraudulent wars.”
Absolutely true – and a way better way to go, but you just can help yourself….
You wrote: “We should let the politicians celebrate Veterans Day by themselves, without our participation. Instead…We should remember Armistice Day, or better yet, give it a new name — Victims of Statism Day.
As Chris Carter on ESPN likes to say – “COME ON MAN!!!”
As a Veteran I am happy that we celebrate Veterans Day and believe we should continue to do so. However, I think you might agree that we should do so in reality and not fantasy land. And we should do so in THANKING actual Veterans who are still with us – and leave remembering the fallen to Memorial Day instead of forgetting them almost entirely while we have out hot dog eating contests and the like.
Mike Cavanaugh
USMC 1984-1988
Yakima, Wa.
Author
Hi Mike. Thanks for your comments and the friendly tone in which they’re expressed. Thanks also for the correction about the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day. I am aware of the distinction but did not depict it correctly. Thanks for pointing that out.
I accept that you signed up to defend freedom and our way of life. I’m sure most soldiers did likewise. I cannot accept that the manner in which soldiers are actually used is irrelevant. We come to a big problem here — the idea that intentions matter more than results. We see this problem on both the Left and the Right. Both sides argue that the actual results of State action don’t matter as long as the intentions were good. The Left makes this arguement for so-called social programs, while the Right makes it for the military. I think the results matter greatly, and the intentions hardly at all. Remember what the road to hell is paved with.
So what have the results been? This post links to an article that reviews the results. I hope you will take the time to read it. The evidence it marshalls leads me to this conclusion…
The Founders were right. We should have no standing army. Giving politicians a military establishment is simply too dangerous — neither is it needed to defend the country. I assume that you will react to this by saying I’m going too far, and that no one will accept it. I think my view corresponds to the evidence. This will be hard for people to see because they don’t know the evidence. They were taught history in self-serving statist schools. We can only change this by saying what the evidence is, and the conclusions it leads to. That this meets with resistance at first is unimportant. All new ideas meet with resistance. But, as Thomas Paine observed, “time makes converts.”
I argue that no one should join the military. When you join the military you may or may not end up serving your country, but you will certainly end up serving politicians. To join the military is to surrender your moral compass to people who have no such compass — the political class. And the history of how politicians have used the military paints a depressing picture. All the “feel good” words we’ll hear today about how soldiers have defended freedom and our way of life are simply untrue. In fact, nearly the reverse is true, as demonstrated in the following review of U.S. military history… https://www.zeroaggressionproject.org/defense/history-lesson-u-s-military-force-good-evil/
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts Mike.
Hello Mike,
Your points are understood, however, I respectfully disagree with your view: “And as a former Marine I can tell you I did sign up to defend freedom and America and protect our way of life *whether or not that was true in reality is not relevant. *” . I side with Perry Willis that it is extremely relevant, especially when one considers how often these conflicts have lead to not just the loss of freedoms right here in America, but chaos overseas.. (Perry Willis’s link provided the evidence for our creating enemies with interventionist foreign policy, this link provides you with the evidence that the fight is actually for the PTB and against our freedoms: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/constitution.html) I was shocked at the number of freedoms we have seen taken from us since 9/11, but maybe I shouldn’t have been. WW1 saw the reboot of the ‘personal income tax’, the beginning of the Federal Reserve, and other attacks on our financial freedom. WW2 added Social Security numbers, the whole ‘Social Security system, and government ‘make work’ projects. (a second attack). The true colors of the statists are showing up in this final onslaught, explained in the link above. The only bone I have to pick with the link is that the Third Amendment has recently also come under attack, at least in the militarization of the police force in the states, and there has been at least one incident where a person’s home was used for a stake out without the owner’s permission… I cannot logically accept that good intentions are what counts either, especially in light of another link here: https://www.zeroaggressionproject.org/mental-lever/cargo-cult-statism/
and https://www.zeroaggressionproject.org/mental-lever/stanford-milgram-authority/ .
This was very thought provoking, as the comments were. Agreed entirely about our current use of the military as a global police force. Its a shame that we removed all guard rails, balsa barriers, and speed bumps to tyranny, starting in 1913, and continuing indefinitely. I will link this to Popular Liberty and spread it over there, and potentially at Liberty Upward as well. Thank you far all you do.