It's fitting and proper for America to have, in the recently celebrated Memorial Day, a holiday to commemorate those soldiers who have lost their lives defending freedom.
The national holiday America could really use, and is missing, though, is an additional one honoring the many people whose lives were saved by the American military.
For all the hundreds of thousands of American troops who perished in World War II, in the Iraq War, in Vietnam, the Civil War, and the American Revolution, there are billions of people worldwide who are living freely because of the sacrifices made by those soldiers.
Focusing on the war dead is a worthwhile reminder of the great costs of war. It's also misleading. For every grave in a military cemetery, there are also bustling households and soccer stadiums full of living people whose freedom was earned and preserved with the sacrifice of American soldiers.
That knowledge doesn't make the wartime losses any less raw. It's a perspective, though, that seems unfortunately absent these days across the political spectrum.
The Republicans are scrambling to denounce each other as warmongers. Donald Trump on March 29 criticized Ron DeSantis for "neocon rhetoric," complaining that DeSantis "long embraced neocon foreign policies of John McCain, Mitt Romney, Karl Rove, and the Bushes — sending American troops and treasure to fight in endless wars around the globe."
On March 16, Trump said, "There must also be a complete commitment to dismantling the entire globalist neocon establishment that is perpetually dragging us into endless wars, pretending to fight for freedom and democracy abroad, while they turn us into a Third-World country and a Third-World dictatorship right here at home."
Trump complained, "These globalists want to squander all of America's strength, blood and treasure, chasing monsters and phantoms overseas."
DeSantis announced his presidential campaign in a Twitter event hosted by Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks.
Sacks tweeted April 24: "The neocon press cycle: 1) New threat to American Democracy in country X! 2) Anyone who questions this narrative is unpatriotic/traitor. 3) Victory is imminent and guaranteed. 4) Victory will take time but is worth it. 5) If we don't redouble our efforts, we will lose. 6) Setbacks were inevitable. 7) Internal doubts and a lack of staying power cost us the war. 8) Press blackout on country X. (Never that important.) Wait 6 months. Repeat with country Y."
Musk replied in agreement, "Pretty much."
A Republican senator from Ohio, J.D. Vance, mocked a Commentary article by Eli Lake about the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War by tweeting, "The failure of our elites to own up to failures in Iraq proves that the country most in need of regime change is ours. These same people are the main drivers of our Ukraine policy. In a sane country they'd spend the rest of their lives begging their fellow citizens for forgiveness and warning against repeating their mistakes. Instead they're running a victory lap. It's gross."
On the Democratic side, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has named peacenik former congressman Dennis Kucinich as his campaign manager. The Kennedy campaign website vows, "I will end the forever wars."
It explains further, "As President, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will start the process of unwinding empire. We will bring the troops home. We will stop racking up unpayable debt to fight one war after another. … We have to stop seeing the world in terms of enemies and adversaries."
As for Joe Biden, in a January 2020 Foreign Affairs article, he wrote, "It is past time to end the forever wars, which have cost the United States untold blood and treasure." Trump and Biden sound the same on the topic, right down to the phrase "blood and treasure."
One of the clearest journalistic voices for freedom and against tyranny, and for a vigorous American role internationally, Claudia Rosett, died over Memorial Day weekend. In a 2019 interview with The (Hillsdale) Collegian, she was asked, "What are some key pieces of history or information that newer generations don't know?"
She replied, "World War II. We ended up with WWII because everybody just thought we could sit down and cut deals with ambitious predator totalitarians. We should not think that the world is now immune to that. One of the lessons of great poetry and history is that it comes around and around again."
War has terrible costs. So too, though, does appeasement, the kind of peace-at-any-price, look-the-other-way callous delusion that somehow the totalitarians will limit their cruelty to their own turf or stop after swallowing their next-door neighbors. You don't have to be a neoconservative warmonger to appreciate this, just a history-reading, freedom-loving American.
Ira Stoll is the author of "Samuel Adams: A Life," and "JFK, Conservative." Read Ira Stoll's Reports — More Here.