By the People

Gettysburg.

The Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863 took the lives of more than 30,00 Americans on both sides of the conflict.  Union and Confederate armies had amassed tens of thousands of soldiers in the area, and though there was a clear and deliberate plan of action from the commanding officers, the beginning of the battle was never officially ordered by either side, it somehow just began.  

When it was all over President Lincoln used the site as a platform for re-framing the conflict.  In his Gettysburg address he makes it clear that his intention was to end the Civil War and preserve the integrity of the nation and the tenets upon which it was founded; freedom chief among them.

The entire Gettysburg address, which lasted less than two minutes:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

References/Photograph of Abrahan Lincoln monents after delivering the Gettysburg Address:

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html

The War Dead

Memorial.

While it may be a lauded American tradition to take to the woods with our RV's, barbecues, and beer over the Memorial Day weekend, this year, according to the AAA three percent less of us actually did so.  Perhaps it was the weather, the high price of gas, or simply our 21st Century disconnect from the outdoors, but AAA was right, the campgrounds were ghost towns this weekend.  What were hopping though, were the  postage-stamp sized cemetery's of our rural communities.  This weekend those tiny memorials overflowed with blooms, family's, and babes in arms being taught to pay their respects.  I saw clutches of older men in lawn chairs circling the grave site of a lost war buddy and mothers and daughters standing silent at the foot of their solider husbands and fathers.  

We are a military-driven industrial complex.  For whatever reasons we have, as a culture, become decidedly and increasingly violent in our approach to globalization and the procurement and protection of our way of life.  We pay for these things in people.

The American Military War Dead:

Major U.S. War Casualties	U.S. Deaths	Wounded	Date
Iraq War	4,800	31,965	2003 – 2011
Afghanistan	1,803	9,971	2001 – Present
Gulf War	258	849	1990 – 1991
Vietnam War	58,209	153,303	1955 – 1975
Korean War	36,516	92,134	1950 – 1953
World War II	405,399	670,846	1941 – 1945
World War I	116,516	204,002	1917 – 1918
Civil War	625,000	281,881	1861 – 1865
American Revolutionary War	25,000	25,000	1775 – 1783
All U.S. Conflict Casualites	U.S Deaths	Wounded	Missing
Grand Total	1,343,812	1,529,230	38,159

References/Photograph:

 http://www.statisticbrain.com/u-s-war-death-statistics/

http://historyofeconomics.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/american-exceptionalism/

A Gay Affair

pro-love.

Yesterday Maine became the fifth state, following Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and Massachusetts, to legalize same sex marriage. This decision followed in the footsteps of several other brave and groundbreaking states that are legalizing same sex marriage and providing civil rights protections for homosexuals based on voter mandates, Supreme Court decisions, and legislative bills. As one of the last groups to be recognized as human beings and therefore deserving of the same basic rights provided to the rest of us, the gay community must be overjoyed. As should the rest of us, since the withholding or erosion of civil rights in any form threatens the rights of us all. This is cause for great celebration, and I take it as a significant indicator that we as a country are beginning to remember that we value things like freedom and equality, not for some, but for everyone.

Philosophically, in my mind the issue comes down to this, are you pro-love or anti-love? In a pro-love world, the kind I optimistically believe I live in, we are all allowed to bond ourselves to whomever we choose. If we are brave enough to commit our lives to that person, then more power to us, as most people can attest, relationships, in any form, but particularly long-term, loving, life-sharing relationships are hard work. I like to think that we are all capable of recognizing that the choice of who we share our lives with has less to do with sex than with compatibility, mutual respect, and friendship. Good things come from people sharing their lives with one another, and we should encourage and celebrate it, even if it doesn’t fit our own image of a life union. Be a part of the revolution and ask someone today, are you pro-love?