Roderick Long on Veteran's Day

"Is it really true that we in the United States owe what freedom we have to U.S. veterans? Certainly the Bill of Rights was made possible by veterans of the American Revolution, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were made possible by veterans of the Civil War. But none of those veterans are currently living. No American war in living memory was one in which the United States was in serious danger of being conquered by a foreign aggressor; hence no living veteran can plausibly claim to have played a role in defending our freedom.

In fact the U.S. government has used each of its wars as a pretext for increased violations of all the rights listed above. (Not that veterans should be blamed for this result; veterans and civilians alike have been victimised by the murderous militarist schemes of politicians.)

To treat veterans as the principal explanation of American freedom is to suggest that the chief threat to our freedom lies with foreign aggressors rather than with our own government. This may have been true in the early days of the Republic; it would be difficult to argue convincingly that it is true today.

The best way to honour Veteran's Day is to ensure that we avoid having veterans in the future."

Read Roderick Long's In a Blog's Stead