Memorial Day

There is a small area in Saint Paul’s cathedral in London called the American chapel. There is a book in it with the names of every known American serviceman who was killed operating out of Britain in World War II – flyers mostly, around twenty eight thousand in all if I remember correctly from my visit . It does not include the many more Americans killed operating  on the continent after the invasions of Italy and France. It is an easy place to cry and a fine place to remember and honor the men who fought and won the war, so many of whom did not make it back, for  their valor, their dedication, their perseverance, their fidelity, and their  glorious success.  

We live in a time plagued by a traditional media culture of people  seemingly unwilling to or even incapable of appreciating such qualities. So at times such as Veterans Day and Memorial Day we get endless maudlin paeans to service people’s “sacrifice”. It is though they  know or feel they should know there is something worth honoring, but steeped in the notion that only victims and victimhood really count, they cannot say just what.

Well it isn’t sacrifice.  It would have been a greater and purer sacrifice for the men who served in the war  to just line up and let the enemies kill them without putting up any fight. The men and more recently women who fought  America’s wars did not do that. They did something quite different, and it is that we should be honoring, respecting, and talking about.

Politics Can Be Fun

In the person of congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, leftists have given us a combination of fanaticism, pomposity, arrogance,  abysmal ignorance, irrationality, and inflated sense of importance  that  can fairly be called stunning. In a group of four hundred and thirty five politicians, many of whom are serious jobs of work in those regards themselves, she has managed to stand out. 

Of course the leftists have no monopoly on any of this. This week a conservative Republican  representative in the legislature of my home state called vaccination sorcery, accused a person who disagreed with him of being a communist, and, denying that scientific and technical progress saves lives, announced that only God Almighty can do that. His performance rates as stunning as well  and would have for most of the last three hundred years.

It is tempting simply to enjoy the farce and laugh these characters off.  They are ludicrous enough. However when one realizes  that they have power and  followers (and in her case a good percentage of the people in the traditional media acting as her  press agents),  the whole thing becomes not quite as funny as one would like it to be. It is still funny enough though.  It should also be a help to someone pondering the questions of how much power governments should have and whether there are reasons to expect wisdom and competence from legislators and officials. For these two, while perhaps somewhat exceptional, are far from alone.