Memorial Day

A friend sent me this, “a powerful image of what Memorial Day is all about.”  It is indeed powerful.

The United States is the most bellicose nation in the history of humankind. We’re a land whose core negotiating strategy is sending young troops to fight and die simply because a few old white men are angry with another country and have duped voters to support them.  Yet maybe this basic ethos will someday be revealed for what it is: a gross moral failing.

The U.S. cannot suddenly decide to be pacifistic, but it can stop selling weapons into places like Saudi Arabia that are used to commit genocide in Yemen.  We can also use war only as a last resort, and ratchet up our diplomatic efforts.  In particular, we can use the hundreds of billions of dollars in “defense” spending on helping the world’s people lead better lives, making it that much harder for wars to start in the first place.

Perhaps the removal of Trump from office signals a new day in which the United States can begin to position itself as a moral authority, and change the course of international affairs in a more peaceful and productive direction.