It’s Memorial Day in the US, but we can’t mourn the soldiers if we forget the myriad revelations and events that happen despite their effort to keep the US free.
May 27, 2024
By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director GWP
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the US government and how it perceives and portrays itself, there’s usually a LOT of dirt to be found under a rug somewhere.
Generally speaking, if they put it in an official report, that’s the part they want you to know. The question is, what aren’t they putting in the report?
If they focus on a particular country no one could even find on a map yesterday, and now that place is in the news constantly, there’s more than “democracy” hanging in the balance there.
If they focus on a particular person, or group of people, what did they do that was unique and better than those they aren’t mentioning?
If democracy were really the ultimate cause, why, out of all the countries on the planet is the US only worried about the oil and energy rich ones?
If freedom were really the ultimate value, why are all policies defended in the name of safety?
If patriotism were really the ultimate virtue to be celebrated, why does the US celebrate the order-follower, but not the whistleblower?
See? All the taglines and slogans have democracy, patriotism, and freedom in them, but none of the policies do.
Every year the US celebrates Memorial Day, and the people they choose to remember remarkably always make the US or the underlying cause look good.
While not an example of Memorial Day, the example of Rosa Parks versus Claudette Colvin illustrates the point of who gets exalted in American history. Both women refused to sit at the back of the bus. But Colvin’s defiance predates Parks’ by about nine months. Why Parks rather than Colvin?
Well, Colvin was fifteen years old, darker, hair wasn’t as well-kempt, oh yes… and she was pregnant. Her name was buried, while Parks was heralded.
The people who died in battle are remembered this day. But the people who are “unpersoned”, oddly are not remembered. The people who died for some political agenda gets parades, salutes, ceremonies, prime time specials. The people who dared to stand up for actual freedom and were either erased from or smeared in history books and/or unpersoned by the state for it… what became of them?
A lot of people died or were unpersoned for doing patriotic things. Many have been vilified, to be sure. The state has us focusing on the ones who fall in line, and condemning those who don’t.
It’s important to note that acknowledging the patriotism of a given individual isn’t tantamount to calling them infallible or me cosigning every aspect and choice they’ve made in life. There’s a glaring insight in each of their acts that should not be obscured by their fallibility.
He flagged and reported the NSA’s surveillance program, Trailblazer, as a colossal waste of time and money. The investigation proved to be correct. He retired from the agency and started his own private enterprise.
This is the army reservist who expose the brutal abuses at the Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib by American personnel. He was threatened to such a degree that he and his wife had to move and live under protective custody. He’s since returned to the Army and moved up the ranks.
Chelsea was a junior data analyst for the Army and shared a massive amount of files (approximately 490,000) showing the realities of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One particular video showed an Apache helicopter targeting civilians and a Reuter’s journalist, after the government insisted it took great care in avoiding civilians. The 400,000 to do with Iraq would be called the Iraq War Logs; and the remaining one on Afghanistan would be called the Afghan War Logs.
Chelsea was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but was commuted by President Obama.
He was a US contractor who exposed the global surveillance programs from the NSA as well as through the Five Eyes and how US and British spy programs found workarounds and back doors to get past encryption.
He currently lives in exile in Russia.
He helped Chelsea Manning, but exposed many other corruption scandals around the world including a $3 Billion scandal in Kenya. He founded Wikileaks which would go on to be a safe haven for whistleblowers with a mission of holding governments and large corporate cronies accountable through transparency.
Assange isn’t American, and he has been passed between prisons currently residing in the Belmarsh Prison in London. But that’s what makes it even worse: that the US would feel entitled to prosecute this journalistic outlet for exposing corruption in the US.
Memorial Day would be better spent remembering these folks’ revelations.
People don’t remember much about Ruby Ridge, ID or Waco, TX or Granby, CO or Bundy Ranch in Southeastern Nevada. Maybe within libertarian circles you’ll have some recollection. But go ask any normie about the events that took place at these locations and what precipitated them. You’ll get Randy Weaver was a white supremacist. You’ll get David Koresh was a cult leader. You’ll get Marvin Heemeyer was a crazed and obstinate man. You’ll get Cliven Bundy was an entitled old man who didn’t pay for his use of BLM land.
What you won’t get is the part where Weaver was a recluse who didn’t bother anyone, and that the Feds were actually guilty of criminal wrong-doing. What you won’t get is the part where the ATF and FBI cooked a bunch of women and children alive in a bus in Waco all in a desperate attempt to keep the ATF relevant. What you won’t get the part where the city of Granby was fining the life out of Heemeyer and maliciously targeted his business, and cutting off his access to certain utilities. What you won’t get is the part where the charges were dropped against Bundy and he’s right back to grazing his cattle on the sam BLM land.
So yes. Weaver, Koresh, Heemeyer, and Bundy fought back against the government. But their battles are not being remembered. People are naming dead soldiers in foreign wars. But they aren’t remembering dead lessons that came at a massive price in their own country.
What’s the point of remembering a dead soldier if no one holds that same government accountable at home? If people forget these small civil outbreaks, what did all those soldiers die for exactly?
If the NSA can still ride roughshod over people’s right to privacy… if the ATF can still literally and figuratively blow up small weapons charges into deadly standoffs… if small jurisdictions can fine and regulate businesses out in favor of their own agendas… if the BLM can bring up charges while withholding exculpatory evidence against a rancher… What did that poor soldier die for? If you can’t remember, or you find yourself struggling to reconcile these two things, then you understand why holidays like Memorial Day have some people very cynical.
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