Memorial Day speeches always praise sacrifice. Flags fly, parades march, politicians invoke honor. But the same leaders who give speeches cut veterans’ benefits, privatize VA care, and shrug at endless wars.
Honoring the fallen isn’t about ritual. It’s about responsibility. It’s about making sure the soldiers we bury aren’t replaced by the next disposable generation sent into another “forever conflict.”
Look at the record: Afghanistan stretched twenty years before leaders admitted the obvious. Iraq left scars we still don’t measure. Yet the appetite for military budgets never fades. What fades is accountability for the decisions that create the graves.
True remembrance would mean asking: why were they sent? Was it worth it? Who profited? And how do we stop repeating it?
Until those questions are answered honestly, Memorial Day is just a pageant. Speeches without memory. Flags without reflection. And a cycle guaranteed to continue.