So my wife who is Russian (via Nam), but has her American citizenship, was watching Russia’s May Day parade this morning when I can Home home from the gym. The May Day parade has been celebrated for 62 years, and commemorates the end of WWII. It is a long procession of the might of the Russian military.
As an American patriot, who grew up in the 70s-80s, and who grew up fearing and hating the Soviet government, I was put off by having this parade on my TV in my home. I mean, when I first joined the Marines in 1988, we still trained to fight the Soviets.
But I think in the end, I find military parades distasteful, and a bit scary, particularly in a Democracy. Miltary parades are more often than not, they serve no other goal except to appeal to the vanity of the nation’s leader. And almost universally such parades are done in dictatorships or authoritarian regimes. In a Democracy, unless it is to celebrate the end of a war, or some specific reason, I think miltary parades really have no place.
And so there is Trump. He goes to France and gets a chubby for miltary parades. Now, we are spending tax payer money, and the time and resources of our military (of which both my sons are members), to have a parade. This is nothing more than to satisfy Trump’s vanity and is frankly disgusting. He wants so badly to be a dictator. He sees the miltary as his personal force, not as servants to the country (he often refers to generals as “my generals”). I cannot believe that conservatives are ok with having a wannabe dictator lead this country. Ronald Reagan has to be rolling in his grave.
As an American patriot, who grew up in the 70s-80s, and who grew up fearing and hating the Soviet government, I was put off by having this parade on my TV in my home. I mean, when I first joined the Marines in 1988, we still trained to fight the Soviets.
But I think in the end, I find military parades distasteful, and a bit scary, particularly in a Democracy. Miltary parades are more often than not, they serve no other goal except to appeal to the vanity of the nation’s leader. And almost universally such parades are done in dictatorships or authoritarian regimes. In a Democracy, unless it is to celebrate the end of a war, or some specific reason, I think miltary parades really have no place.
And so there is Trump. He goes to France and gets a chubby for miltary parades. Now, we are spending tax payer money, and the time and resources of our military (of which both my sons are members), to have a parade. This is nothing more than to satisfy Trump’s vanity and is frankly disgusting. He wants so badly to be a dictator. He sees the miltary as his personal force, not as servants to the country (he often refers to generals as “my generals”). I cannot believe that conservatives are ok with having a wannabe dictator lead this country. Ronald Reagan has to be rolling in his grave.
