Supporting the Troops

While Facebooking my life away today, I came across one of those gimmicky "support the troops, they fight for freedom" posts, and something struck me. It struck me pretty hard, so hard in fact that after making my remarks to the post itself I simply had to put it down somewhere else. Before we go any further, it is important to clarify that I have no problem with anyone who signs up to be in the United States Military. As an advocate of freedom, and freedom of choices, if that happens to be your career choice, you are as entitled to is as I should be to be able to write subversive material and make a living off of it. My issue is that as much as the troops may go through during a time of war, there's not a single one of my rights or freedoms that have been fought for or won by the US military. I guess there's a little bit of gray area there for Washington's army in the Revolutionary War, but aside from that really, never have my rights or freedoms been "protected" by the US military.

I realize what I'm saying is going to be incredibly unpopular, and if I get any feedback at all, it will probably be negative. But this needs to be cleared up. My freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, as are my rights to freedom of and from religion, and my freedom of assembly; my right to bear arms is guaranteed by the second amendment; I will never have to house members of the military in a time of peace or war thanks to the third amendment; I am protected from warrantless searches and seizures of property on account of the fourth, and the list goes on. These rights were not established by the US military. These rights were painstakingly hammered out by delegations from thirteen separate states. They were upheld by effective and powerful courts. In fact, America, land of the free and home of the brave was such even before 1945. 1945 is significant because that is the year that Harry Truman signed legislation that put into place a full time standing army, something that was "un-American" for the first hundred and fifty years of this country's existence. Prior to 1945, was America not free? I mean, there was no standing military, so does that mean that there really wasn't any freedom? Cause I'm told that I have to thank troops for my freedom...

Clearly, in 1945 there were groups of people that were less free, and since then there have always been abuses by our government of the liberties of marginalized groups. Socialists and Communists, some of the hardest working and most dedicated Americans were marginalized and pushed practically out of society, even though if it weren't for them we would not have labor laws, work safety standards, and child labor laws. Not the Military. Environmentalists fought our government in the 1960's and 1970's to get better environmental standards so that people my age could enjoy some of nature's beauty, and not have to deal with unclean air and unsafe water. Our government has done much to marginalize them. Female activists fought long and hard to guarantee the right for women to vote - not the military - the American Civil Liberties Union has fought the government on a huge number of issues that guarantee your freedoms and mine - not the military - the list goes on and on. We can all agree that freedom is good, liberties, rights, the pursuit of happiness, these are all wonderful things, but I want to make very clear that our government has been opposed to almost every one of the advances in freedom in the long history of this wonderful country. Now this is not a rant to call out against any government, or even a call to arms to "shrink" government. But it is important to recognize that if we are going to give credit to groups of people that sacrificed for our freedom, I think it only fair to actually credit those responsible rather than simply manufacturing some phony justification for our sometimes questionable military involvement around the world.

Simply, I am thankful for the working class, underpaid, overworked social and political activists that have come before me to make this land a free land for you and me. - not the troops -

thank you and have a nice day