Why thank the military

This past Memorial Day weekend I saw posts on Facebook saying how appreciative people were for their freedom in America. This was obviously tied to the men and women that have died in war, and somehow they think those two are related. That same weekend I was called a piece of shit for not standing during the national anthem; I clearly didn't understand the sacrifices made that allowed me to attend a baseball game, the man said.

In this post I want to elaborate on two questions.

1. What is freedom?
2. Why is violence necessary for freedom?

I won't go into the technical definition of freedom, and I won't be an absolutist here – meaning I'll leave libertarian theory at the door. Instead, I'm wondering what makes America so much freer that people feel they need to be appreciative of the military for it.

First I acknowledge things could be worse. North Korea is worse, I'd prefer not to live under Sharia law, freedom of speech is a big one that – while under constant attack here – is better than the majority of other nations. But really, what would a free people look like? let's consider these questions:

Would a free country...

• have the largest prison population filled with non-violent "criminals"?
• punish you for creating wealth with your labor via income tax?
• punish you for deferring consumption and investing via capital gains tax?
• punish you for consuming through sales tax?
• punish you for owning a home through property tax?
• have one of the highest corporate income tax in the world?
• punish you via taxation for other sins/indulgences such as alcohol, tourism, soda, fuel, cigarette taxes?
• take essentially 40-50% of your income through the previous 6 punishments?
• be the only country in the world that continues to tax you when you move away?
• restrict access to common goods from other countries such as sugar through embargoes?
• limit freedom of trade by imposing tariffs to make foreign goods more expensive?
• ruin your life for ingesting substances the government disapproves of?
• raid your place of business for using labor or selling goods the government doesn't approve of?
• end your life by restricting access to medicine the government hasn't approved of?
• have compulsory monopolies such as in first class mail, education, defense, and regulatory organizations like the FDA, EPA, FAA?
• destroying your business through antitrust for having prices too high (price gouging), too low (predatory pricing), or just right (collusion)
• prevent you from doing business with other countries or hiring from other countries through sanctions?
• force you to pay for health insurance
• force you into a Ponzi scheme for retirement
• force you into late-life medical care too mismanaged to be viable?
• have a monetary system where savings is constantly diluted by increasing government fiat for purposes of war and expanding government reach and scope?
• have a secret kill list that results in the death of American citizens via drone strikes? 
• have a massive spying apparatus on all phone call and email metadata?
• have a government that spends 4 trillion dollars of the tax payer's money?
• have unrepresented taxation through massive debts that can only be paid by citizens too young to vote?
• end up as the 26th freest country on the economic freedom index?

Yes it could be worse, but the above list doesn't look like freedom to me even relative to other countries. So what freedoms do we enjoy, and more importantly what did the military have to do with it?

In order to keep this blog post short, let's restrict the scope to the past 60 years. What war in the past 60 years ensured our freedom? Or in what way did the military preserve our freedom? The only attack on US soil from foreign invaders was 9/11 and that was fueled by the unnecessary actions of the US military. We would have been better off without foreign military action during those 60 years and a hell of a lot more financially stable.

Our freedoms are constantly eroded from within our borders. If the military were protecting us with violence (their MO) then they'd be attacking Washington, Sacramento, Austin, not Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

But this brings up question #2, why is violence necessary? There have been peaceful revolutions. Iran and India come to mind. The British lost hold of India by the Indian people resisting not fighting. Gandhi used non-violent means to protest the Indian rulers. Americans, though, are taught "might is right." Our military our police, while violent and very often unjust, are good says the average American. Why are they good? Because they can destroy? Why do Americans continue to believe it with all the blood on their hands? Is it Stockholm Syndrome or just plain brainwashing from the 24-hour, corporate news, propaganda machine? If that sounds conspiratorial, just look at the list again and ask "is this what freedom looks like?"

I don't believe violence is necessary to have freedom, and it's not necessary to start the revolution that brings about that freedom. As Etienne de La Boetie says

Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.

I'm no Gandhi, but I don't stand for the star spangled banner because it's non-violent resistance to the war machine that song celebrates.