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The Cause Worth Dying For

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massadvj:

--- Quote from: skeeter on May 26, 2019, 08:44:53 pm ---I've wondered what preceding generations have sacrificed themselves for given the state of the nation today; how we've frittered away/given away our birthright, and the obvious conclusion is each generation does not fight for posterity as we often hear, it fights for itself.

Past generations of Americans each in turn fought to earn for themselves and their families their liberties, security and way of life.

Now they're gone and we are left to fight for our own. And I do not think that as a nation we're any longer equal to the task.

--- End quote ---

You may be right. I was originally going to discuss how society has been indoctrinated into the belief that we are the beneficiaries of slavery and genocide, and how much that has affected our perceptions of those who fought in the early wars.  It obviously also affects the level of patriotism people feel and whether they think the country is worth fighting for.

massadvj:
 :beer:
--- Quote from: mystery-ak on May 26, 2019, 09:16:45 pm ---Loved it...it's been too long @massadvj

--- End quote ---

EdJames:
I don't mean to give short shrift to the beginning and rest of your beautifully written article, @massadvj , but will comment primarily on your close:


--- Quote ---“You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country. .. the defense of one's country means that a man is personally unwilling to live as the conquered slave of any enemy, foreign or domestic. This is an enormous virtue.”

That is the virtue for which I honor our war dead.

--- End quote ---

And in doing so, attempt to address @skeeter 's commentary.

I believe that we have failed as a nation, for generation now, to recognize the domestic enemies, and thus engage and defeat them.

These domestic enemies have purposefully been grinding and tearing down our nation on every front that they believed to be worth attacking: culture, civil society, education, arts, sciences, economy, government, and any others that you can identify.  We know how clever, disingenuous, and effective their methods have been.

Why have they been so effective?

Why have we as a citizenry been so "blind" to the presence and actions of these enemies?

I believe that some of it comes from our national ideals which promote "free speech" and free thought to a virtually unlimited extent.  I am not sure if that is the complete explanation, or even if it explains most of it.

Perhaps it is also the ideal of "fairness" that permeates our society, to an excess.

But for whatever reason, or set of reasons, we as a nation have allowed these domestic enemies to prosper and flourish in our midst. 

(Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?  Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.)

We celebrate an amazing host of heroes this weekend, they came from every pocket and segment of this great nation, and gave the ultimate sacrifice to defeat our foreign enemies of all stripes.

Yet generation after generation we watch the damages mount up from the attacks of our domestic enemies, and to this point, we largely sat by without engaging them in battle.  Has it yet reached the point that the older generations alive today will no longer acquiesce?

As we see it prosper in our midst, will we dare call it treason?

skeeter:

--- Quote from: massadvj on May 26, 2019, 09:21:13 pm ---You may be right. I was originally going to discuss how society has been indoctrinated into the belief that we are the beneficiaries of slavery and genocide, and how much that has affected our perceptions of those who fought in the early wars.  It obviously also affects the level of patriotism people feel and whether they think the country is worth fighting for.

--- End quote ---

I guess its tough fighting for a nation for which you've been taught contempt.

But I'll bet that if the need ever arises, some crisis or other, there will suddenly be fervent appeals to patriotism from our cynical elites and the traditional American, now their favorite target, will respond. As they always have.

Right_in_Virginia:

--- Quote --- If there is anything worth remembering on Memorial Day it is that we should take war so seriously that we are unwilling to engage in it for any reason that is not existential to our survival as a country.  Unfortunately, every war since WWII has been a war of expediency, fought for the purpose of diplomatic leverage.
--- End quote ---

Well said @massadvj

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