To the Editor:

I always find Memorial Day a sad holiday on many levels. Among them, many simply see this as another holiday with free time without thinking about its meaning. Others view this day for more honorable reasons, while a minority view is one that cries out for the end to senseless wars that result in what we have today: with a backlog at the VA of around 835,000 claims for injuries caused by warfare that has not one thing to do with national defense. Instead, it only furthers the interests of those Eisenhower warned us about in his farewell address.

In point of fact, there never has been a good war, although WWII may be the exception. From Polk’s War, to today, those that serve in the military are generally used for reasons other than the stated purpose and that is dishonorable in the extreme. For example, when Congress called for 2,000,000 volunteers at the start of WWI, only 73,000 answered that call. That resulted in a draft, using PR firms to sell that war, the Espionage Act still in force today, while the public called it a Businessman’s War. In other words, that war was not a popular one, but our history texts don’t reflect this. Much like what is done in our names today, in this perpetual war on a tactic, something used by the weak, better dealt with by the FBI and CIA. These current wars are almost invisible to the public, as our media follows our elected leaders down that rabbit hole while our citizens, both vets and others, suffer because of it.

If our elected officials wished to honor those who have served and are serving in the military, they would bring them home, begin to close the over 800 military bases outside our borders, take care of our injured vets and shift our economy from one mired in this endless war, to one firmly rooted in the needs of our people instead of our Multinationals, Wall Street Banksters, and the corporate media who have such a firm hold on our political process. For many of our citizens, we now feel powerless to affect change, or have a voice in the narrative presented us and that isn’t how democracy is supposed to operate.

William Johnson
Draper