Memorial Day Melancholy

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. This holiday is supposedly a somber occasion where the graves of war dead are decorated and their sacrifices are appreciated. Instead, it seems to be mainly a day for furniture sales and deals on new cars while people eat junk food. On one hand, this crass commercialism disgusts me. On the other hand, the original idea does, too.

Men have killed and died for centuries, usually to enrich the political class which rules them, and rarely for independence. The United States is now a de facto empire. The government is openly disregarding its own constitution to allow the President to wage war without the slightest hint of public debate. This makes more war dead, whether there is a declaration of war or not.

An executive with the power to wage war without consulting the public is a tyrant. Even if you don't share my anarchist inclinations, surely you can see how this violates the concept of a limited constitutional republic governing via democratic representation. The Democrat-led "No Kings" rally is only half-right in opposing overreach. I just wish they were consistent, and not just advocates of a different ruler. Likewise, MAGA denounced Obama and Biden without grasping the more fundamental principles, and instead rallied behind every Trump trespass.

So this Memorial Day, drink your cheap beer, eat your bratwurst, wave your damned flags and celebrate the blood sacrifices made at the altar of Uncle Sam. I won't be joining in the festivities. Instead, I'll be grieving senseless death and destruction perpetuated in my name by usurpers, and the unwilling conscripts or gullible patriotic volunteers who died just to feed the libido dominandi of those "great men" in government.

It's always the old to lead us to the wars,
Always the young to fall.
Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun,
Tell me, is it worth it all?

—Phil Ochs, I Ain't Marching Anymore