On Memorial Day and International Meddling

Memorial Day is the day we honor those who have fallen in service to this country. We all know this, I hope. It’s not Veterans Day, or Armed Forces Day for good reason. Honoring those who have served or are serving is proper, but a special Day set aside for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the nation is only right.

Memorial Day is a somber occasion. At least, I think it should be. The various ceremonies at gravesites and memorials across the country reflect this well.

The sales and epic “start of summer” parties…not so much. But, maybe that’s just grumpy old me talking.

There is one thing that I'd like to throw out there, just as a topic of conversation this Memorial Day:

Could we honor our fallen by making sure we add as few to their ranks as possible in the future?

I realize that’s an impertinent question, especially inside the DC Beltway. The Neocons, devotees of the Wolfowitz doctrine that they are, the military-industrial complex and their Congressional beneficiaries and water-carriers, and most of all the DC Blob—that amorphous, syncytial mass of State, Intelligence and Defense interests that has been the de facto driving force of American foreign policy for decades—all regard such a notion as quaint (at best) or anathema (at worst).

Out here in flyover country, where we all know a few Veterans and active duty personnel—these are our friends and family we’re talking about. We’d rather not lose them in a foreign land just to protect the Blob’s interests in places most of us couldn’t find on a map, or raise Raytheon’s stock price by half a percent. And, when we speak of spending blood and treasure to protect American interests? Some of us regard American blood as our greatest treasure, thank you very much.

I’m not alone in thinking this. A few weeks ago I ran across an article by Doug Bandow, Saving the World is Not America’s Responsibility—President Trump should ignore the foreign policy “Blob” and act with restraint on the international stage. It’s truly excellent, and I recommend it highly.

One paragraph in particular leaped out at me:

“There is no duty for any government more fundamental than protecting its people. The Constitution speaks of the “common defense.” But that means of Americans, not the world. Most importantly, that also means defense. Not conducting grand crusades around the globe to bring paradise to earth.”

“Grand crusades around the globe to bring paradise to earth.” If there’s a better way to describe America’s Forever Wars of the last few decades, I don’t know it.

We’ve sent our young men and women and material to the Sandbox…to the Graveyard of Empires…to innumerable “hot spots” to do exactly what, really? Force “duhmocracy” down the throats of those with no desire for it, no idea about what it is or how to do it?

Gee, how’s that worked out for us so far?

We were told we’d “fight the terrorists over there, not here”…but then we threw open the borders and literally invited them in by the millions (and gave them lots of free stuff, too!). The butcher’s bill for that little bit of national insanity has yet to be paid…but it will be, and soon, I’m afraid.

We have made the shareholders of defense contractors a lot of money, and that’s been used to handsomely reward the Congresscritters who voted for it, time and again.

But…one of the remarkable things about Trump 45 was no new wars. That's one of the reasons he was reelected, I believe. Many of us are tired of foreign adventures in nation building, especially since by any objective measure, we’ve failed to do so at every turn.

We on the Right like to laugh at the Left for insisting that the next time socialism is tried, it’ll really work. Yeah, no; it never has and never will.

Couldn’t we say exactly the same thing about nation building?

It’s time we as a nation stepped back from meddling on the world stage. It’s not effective, and truly not appreciated. And, quite frankly, we’re too broke to afford it anymore.

Is this isolationism? Some would call it that. I prefer to think of it as stepping back from sticking body parts into other people’s affairs where we have no business sticking them. 

We shouldn’t be the global policeman. We shouldn’t be nation builders—if they want a nation, they can (and should) build it themselves. We shouldn’t be the global nanny, blowing on skinned knees and putting band-aids on every global boo-boo.

We should not be engaging in those “grand crusades around the globe to bring paradise to earth,” because we’ve proven time and again that it Just. Doesn’t. Work.

We need to stop meddling in other people's business.

It’s time we started taking better care of our own, and left the rest of the world to their own devices, unless there are bona fide American interests—not the Blob’s interests, but America’s interests—at stake.

And when we do that, my hope is that we have far fewer crosses to add to those graveyards, to honor on Memorial Days to come.

Opinions do not reflect the views and opinions of ALPolitics.com