SIXTH COLUMN

"History is philosophy teaching by example." (Lord Bolingbroke)

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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

MEMORIAL DAY: What We Owe Our Soldiers


To follow is an op-ed piece by Alex Epstein of the Ayn Rand Institute.

Mr. Epstein puts the meaning of our fighting men and women into context and perspective. Anyone understanding this piece will get an eye-opening about the contradictory and lousy ideas that motivate the men and women of government to send our troops to slaughter. George W. Bush is a classic in that regard, and the maiming and killing of our military personnel as well as the treasure being spilled along with their blood reflect the prevalence of this foul thinking.

George W. Bush is hardly alone. Since Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement, American leaders have been sending the flower of our youth and our treasure off to be sacrificed, including to police a world that has come to rely on American sacrifices to save their unhygienic behinds. The blame falls equally on the Right, the Left, and those marshmallows who call themselves "moderates."


If these fine young people of our military did not believe they were going in harm's way in service to the home of the rights of man, they would not go. But, they are being sent by their lessers to be sacrificial fodder, even cannon fodder, for what Lyndon Johnson called "championing lost causes." If America is to get well, we must stop the sacrifice and stop championing causes not worth our time and effort.


What We Owe Our Soldiers

By Alex Epstein

Every Memorial Day, we pay tribute to the American men and women who have died in combat. With speeches and solemn ceremonies, we recognize their courage and valor. But one fact goes unacknowledged in our Memorial Day tributes: all too many of our soldiers have died unnecessarily--because they were sent to fight for a purpose other than America's freedom.

The proper purpose of a government is to protect its citizens' lives and freedom against the initiation of force by criminals at home and aggressors abroad. The American government has a sacred responsibility to recognize the individual value of every one of its citizens' lives, and thus to do everything possible to protect the rights of each to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. This absolutely includes our soldiers.

Soldiers are not sacrificial objects; they are full-fledged Americans with the same moral right as the rest of us to the pursuit of their own goals, their own dreams, their own happiness. Rational soldiers enjoy much of the work of military service, take pride in their ability to do it superlatively, and gain profound satisfaction in protecting the freedom of every American, including their own freedom.

Soldiers know that in entering the military, they are risking their lives in the event of war. But this risk is not, as it is often described, a "sacrifice" for a "higher cause." When there is a true threat to America, it is a threat to all of our lives and loved ones, soldiers included. Many become soldiers for precisely this reason; it was, for instance, the realization of the threat of Islamic terrorism after September 11--when 3,000 innocent Americans were slaughtered in cold blood on a random Tuesday morning--that prompted so many to join the military.

For an American soldier, to fight for freedom is not to fight for a "higher cause," separate from or superior to his own life--it is to fight for his own life and happiness. He is willing to risk his life in time of war because he is unwilling to live as anything other than a free man. He does not want or expect to die, but he would rather die than live in slavery or perpetual fear. His attitude is epitomized by the words of John Stark, New Hampshire’s most famous soldier in the Revolutionary War: "Live free or die."

What we owe these men who fight so bravely for their and our freedom is to send them to war only when that freedom is truly threatened, and to make every effort to protect their lives during war--by providing them with the most advantageous weapons, training, strategy, and tactics possible.

Shamefully, America has repeatedly failed to meet this obligation. It has repeatedly placed soldiers in harm's way when no threat to America existed--e.g., to quell tribal conflicts in Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. America entered World War I, in which 115,000 soldiers died, with no clear self-defense purpose but rather on the vague, self-sacrificial grounds that "The world must be made safe for democracy." America's involvement in Vietnam, in which 56,000 Americans died in a fiasco that American officials openly declared a "no-win" war, was justified primarily in the name of service to the South Vietnamese. And the current war in Iraq--which could have had a valid purpose as a first step in ousting the terrorist-sponsoring, anti-American regimes of the Middle East--is responsible for thousands of unnecessary American deaths in pursuit of the sacrificial goal of "civilizing" Iraq by enabling Iraqis to select any government they wish, no matter how anti-American.

In addition to being sent on ill-conceived, "humanitarian" missions, our soldiers have been compromised with crippling rules of engagement that place the lives of civilians in enemy territory above their own. In Afghanistan we refused to bomb many top leaders out of their hideouts for fear of civilian casualties; these men continue to kill American soldiers. In Iraq, our hamstrung soldiers are not allowed to smash a militarily puny insurgency--and instead must suffer an endless series of deaths by an undefeated enemy.

To send soldiers into war without a clear self-defense purpose, and without providing them every possible protection, is a betrayal of their valor and a violation of their rights.

This Memorial Day, we must call for a stop to the sacrifice of our soldiers and condemn all those who demand it. It is only by doing so that we can truly honor not only our dead, but also our living: American soldiers who have the courage to defend their freedom and ours.

Alex Epstein is a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, CA. The Institute promotes Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand--author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead."


The Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Pkwy, Ste 250, Irvine, CA 92606

4 Comments:

  • At Fri May 26, 09:09:00 PM PDT, Blogger Eleanor © said…

    The hackneyd cliché, "Freedom isn't free," is so true. There's always a price to pay in duty and sacrifice. Our armed service personnel know their duty and pay the price for us.

    Their sacrifice should be honored with our due respect every day, and grateful rememberance to those that gave their lives in the service of our country.

    It is troubling to see the ugly resurgence of anti-war marchers that trashed servicemen of other conflicts. Not all sacrifice required military service and shed blood, but American citizenship carries responsiblities. It is sad to see how many demand their rights and freedoms, and how few are willing to responsbly uphold their end as citizens.

     
  • At Sun May 28, 01:48:00 PM PDT, Blogger George Mason said…

    To readers of this posting:

    Any date disparity comes from my republishing this article from its original pub. date of 5/26 to ride atop this blog through Memorial Day, where it is topically fitting and timely.

     
  • At Mon May 29, 03:58:00 PM PDT, Blogger Dardin Soto said…

    Cubed, after a reading a few of your comments at Publius' site I felt compelled to come to your blog for a visit. It is always a pleasure to read your commentary. Cheers!

     
  • At Tue May 30, 08:18:00 AM PDT, Blogger Cubed © said…

    Hi, Truth-pain,

    Thanks so much for dropping by! I am slowly finding more and more thoughtful bloggers who cause me to think!

    Have you seen the announcement about the change in our URL? The webmaster (George Mason) says that both this and the new one are active now, and that material will be published on both simultaneously between now and the end of June.

    The major issue of the day is the "twofer" of Islam/border. Given the relationship between Islam and Central and South America, we tend to see them as a single problem. It is so dangerous that it deserves to have a site devoted entirely to it.

    From time to time, we think of material that is related in a historical or philosophical way, and really, really want to talk about them, too.

    A lot of it will contrast Islamic with western thinking, for example, or discuss issues that distinguish the thinking of the Founders from present day thinking. A couple of questions already raised over at Publius' site (Constitutional matters and capitalism vs. totalitarianism, for example) are the sorts of things we want to talk about. Others are things like the historical development of natural-law based civil authority vs. religion-based civil authority [thanks to John Locke!] etc.), how the U.S. educational system became a conduit for PC and Islam, how Islam blew its last chance to be a civilized society, etc. are probably the sorts of things that we will take up there.

    They are all related to current events, but they are not reports on current events.

    The new URL is in effect now, and we'll be sure to let everyone know about the one that's still in the pipeline. We hope you'll drop by to see what's going on, and maybe join the party!

     

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