June 2, 2010
Memorial Day Address
Lusk, Wyoming, May 31, 2010
Thank you for the kind introduction.
Also, before I begin my formal address, I’d like to thank the American Legion and VFW of Lusk for inviting me here today to give the Memorial Day address. It is especially meaningful for me, a native of Lusk, because my late father was a veteran from here who served in the South Pacific during World War II and several of my uncles also served, two of them from Lusk, in that war. As for myself, I’m a Marine Corps veteran although I never got beyond the coast of California during my service. Even though I was nowhere near a war zone, the experience had a considerable impact on my life. My thanks again for inviting me here to be part of this ceremony today.
On this day, we honor those who served.
We remember those who died defending freedom on the battlefields of Antietam, the Argonne forest, Normandy, Saipan, and North Africa.
On this day, we salute those who answered the country’s call to fight our nations wars on the far-off islands of the South Pacific, in the fields of Europe, on the frozen hills of Korea, in the jungles of Southeast Asia, and the deserts of the Middle East.
And, on this day, we thank those who cared for soldiers and sailors who suffered from the ravages of warthose who served on hospital ships, in VA medical wards, and in homes throughout the nation who cared for wounded servicemen and women and kept our nations promise to care for them as they cared for our country.
And on this day, we are reminded that keeping our democracy comes with a pricethat some wars must be fought to protect democracy and combat tyranny.
Yet, we also know that over the past two centuries, we, as a nation, have had our lapses. We’ve been misled into foreign adventures that continue to be costly in blood and treasure. Democracy cannot be imposed by military forcethat while we may be capable of freeing people from tyranny, we can’t impose the concepts of rule of law and democracy on those who won’t also fight for it for themselves.
Puritan leader John Winthrop, approaching the American coast those many centuries ago, stated how we ought to be that shining city on a hill– as a country centuries later, that would demonstrate our democratic traditions and adherence to the rule of law and human rights. We must always consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill– they eyes of all people are upon us.
That shining city served as an example for people everywhere. It wasn’t the TV sets, Wall Street fortunes, or rumors of streets paved in gold that made us that shining city bringing people here from all over the world. It was from those concepts we put into practice–majority rule and minority rights; equal justice; equality of opportunity; and revolutionary human rights concepts of habeas corpus and presumption of innocencethose principles to which others everywhere aspire.
And, of course, we foster human dignity and democracy around the world only when we practice those principles at home–when we restore the protections guaranteed by the Constitution and that we, once again, are the shining city to which other people aspire to emulate. We must, once again, resolve to return to being the shining city on the hill.
Even in those rare times when our country followed falsely into conflict, it doesn’t take away from the sacrifices of those who fought and died. These sorrowful incidents remind us to renew the tenets of the Constitution that make us the shining city on the hill. We must not compound the mistakes of war, foolishly entered into by curtailing the rights the Constitution, always has guaranteed.
On this day, we honor those who served in all wars.
So on this day, while we honor those who served, we remind those who represent us to walk the hallowed rows of crosses in military cemeteries (and many of the graves marked by flags in our cemetery here) and walk the halls of the veterans hospitals and see the effects of war remain indelibly imprinted on millions of families. We ask our leaders to read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and note the protections for all people and understand that it is through upholding those principles that we remain the shining city on the hill, admired by the world. Above all, they need to remember that war must never be viewed as the easy way to solve disputes and protect our nation.
On this day, we remember those who died for our country and those who suffered in its service. From their sacrifices, day to day, we are reminded of what they fought forthe American constitution and the values it protects–equal justice, due process, presumption of innocence, compassion for all of our fellow citizens.
On this day, we honor all of those who served.