Memorial Day

This is "Memorial Day Weekend".  It is a time for cookouts, and a time to celebrate our "warriors".

When did soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines become "warriors"?  When did we develop such a "military caste"? 

Do any of you remember when folks who served in the armed services were "citizen soldiers"?  Do you remember when they were "veterans" after service?  Remember the original G.I.Bill  --  that thing that helped form our middle class (along with things like workers rights and UNIONS)?

Now we play "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at baseball games, we have "flyovers" by various agents of destruction during pre-game "festivities", and we celebrate those who kill, supposedly in our name.

Memorial day no longer memorializes the CITIZENS lost in all our various wars (if you were to keep track, you'd realize we are ALWAYS at war), it celebrates our "warriors". 

Time to go back to "citizen soldiers".  Time to go back to THE DRAFT.  If more folks were at risk, not just poor kids and members of the military caste, we might not be so quick to go to war. 

This is not the country I was born in.