Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

A few thoughts on the need for the military – on Veterans Day

This Veteran’s Day I would like to thank all Veterans for their service to our country. You fill a great need and are often underappreciated by the people that you have protected and served. There are some that think we don’t need you, but the founders of this great nation knew differently – as do I.

The idea that times have changed and that there is no need for a vigilant military on the lookout for our security and our liberties is a foolish notion. People have tried to set aside their self defense before – looking to the good natures of men bent upon conquest to pass them by. Putting pretty daffodils in the barrels of guns is a pretty gesture, but a naive one. Unilateral disarmament in the face of a hostile world is the act of a child with no knowledge of the hearts of men.

“To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that the fiery and destructive passions of war reign in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political systems upon speculations of lasting tranquillity would be to calculate on the weaker springs of human character.”
– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 34, 1788

The notion that we can negotiate with everyone and never need to rely upon the use of force is a foolish one. Just as there are men and women of good character in our world, some of whom rise to power and lead the free world benevolently, there are also men and women with an evil bent to their nature. To seek to pacify them is to give up your security for a false ideal. When a man has sworn to destroy you and all you hold dear to placate him is to die.

“We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our won Country's Honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions.”
– George Washington, General Orders, 1776

There are indeed some things worth fighting and dying for. Liberty is one of those things, and our founders knew it well. They didn’t simply tell King George III of Great Britain that they wanted liberty and then wait in hopeful expectation that he would grant it to them. Indeed, they were already in the midst of war – fighting off the oppression and the armies of Great Britain before they declared their independence.

“With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live as slaves.”
– John Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Cause and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 1775

Even today, now that we’ve won our independence and liberty the world remains a dangerous place. Demagoguery and tyranny still rule many nations. A few days ago we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the pundits celebrated. Some even went so far as to say that that event marked the end of communism and the threat that it represents.

I still cannot forget that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was not the only communist nation on the earth with a will diametrically opposed to the freedom and liberty that we enjoy. There is indeed one that looms very large upon the world stage still – even though it has taken on some of the trappings of capitalism. And communist China still remains opposed to the goals of the United States – and remains a threat to our strength – upon the seas and in the markets of the world.

"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.”
– Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Convention, 1775

Vigilance is the watchword. And as long as there are brave, active men and women committed to our defense and to liberty and independence I trust that we will remain free and safe. Yes, many exist in our country that would surrender their liberties for comfort. Those people have no idea what a great gift we have been given – and are still given today – by the brave men and women who have fought, sacrificed, and in some cases given the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our liberty.

To every U.S. military veteran living and dead I offer my thanks and heartfelt gratitude. It may be true as Thomas Jefferson penned in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal”, but you, by your choices have made yourself better than the rest of us. You are truly deserving of tribute, honor, and glory.