Memorial weekend follies

Aside from the fact we now have a president* who is actively undermining alliances which have endured since the end of WW2 and whose idea of military service was a stint at a military themed high school, it was a pretty good Memorial Day weekend.   I have no problem honoring those who perished and/or served in various wars since the American Revolution.   It is the policies which in many cases led to those wars I object to.   The men who died to preserve the United States in the Civil war or fought to  stop Hitler and Germany from dominating Europe and implementing the "final solution" were no more worthy or heroic than my generation's Viet-Nam veterans who gave their last full measure for a manufactured war of choice against national self determination.  The same for a later generation caught up in "Desert Storm" and "Iraqi Freedom" in the wake of Saddam Hussein's aggression and the national freakout after 9/11.  I still believe in the role of Congress under the constitution.  That body has the responsibility to initiate military action.  If that mandate had been respected the nation would have mourned and buried many fewer heroes than the multitudes we honored over the weekend.   Here's hoping none of my grandchildren will be called on to die for some megalomaniac's vision America's role in the world.