Use Veterans Day to promote peace, not war
Started 98 years ago today, Armistice Day was established in the UK to commemorate the armistice which ended WWI a year earlier. In 1926 Congress added it to the US to "perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations...a day dedicated to the cause of world peace." The war party, working through Congress, changed it to Veterans Day in 1954, the same year they put 'under god' in the Pledge. Since then it has largely become a commercial for American perpetual war around the world which today sees over 250,000 soldiers deployed in 140 countries. Every day we bomb innocents in at least 8 countries we know of. While every decent function of government loses funding, the annual increase in our $700 billion plus military budget alone dwarfs what most countries spend on their entire military. All vets but the near centenarians of WWII fought in undeclared wars which slaughtered millions while doing nothing to promote peace...and they know it. After 63 years it's time for another name change. How about Peace Day, to honor the peacemakers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Gandi and a true American hero, Pvt. Chelsea Manning, who spent seven years in prison for outing American war crimes in Iraq? As John Lennon famously sang, 'Give peace a chance.'
posted by Walt Zlotow at 5:06 AM
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