The absurdity of the Stolen Valor Act. “Liberty Versus ‘Patriotism’”

The absurdity that a decorated veteran’s valor can be stolen.  I know children of KIA vets who wear their father’s medals on bracelets and necklaces and other means of remembrance. my own father’s medals were found im a box after his death.  Many were geegaws  and he served 28+ years and won a Bronze Star in Korea.   The US military inflated medal awards that deskbound Generals were awarded Silver Stars for flying in a helicopter in Viet Nam according to Col. David Hackworth, President Lyndon B. Johnson was awarded a Silver Star in WW2 for basically being in the Pacific Ocean. Now that’s “stolen valor” and misrepresentation.

Most Viet Nam vets don’t give a damn about the medals except those they valued and what they sacrificed..no one can ever take or diminish that and they are secure in that. All seem to value their Purple Heart[s].  After all John Kerry was awarded more Silver Stars than Audie Murphy (Corrected… Kerry received only one Silver Star, see comments – jd) and he said he threw them into the Viet Nam Memorial  concrete foundation when it was being built for his contempt for the war only to have them reappear in his Senate office wall.   It’s another attack on the liberty and freedom for the sake of political grandstanding.

Liberty Versus ‘Patriotism’

Posted By Ivan Eland On February 9, 2010

Dozens of people have been arrested under the Stolen Valor Act, which punishes, by up to a year in jail, the wearing of any unearned military medal. It is still a crime even if no effort was made to profit from the adornment or dissembling about earning it. This law is now being challenged in the courts as a violation of the First Amendment’s free speech right. Let’s hope that the judicial system acknowledges the clear violation of this amendment. But, of course, many times the courts choose the wrong answer, especially when questions of “patriotism” and the military arise.

The ancient Greeks and the men of the 18th-century Enlightenment, which included the American founders, differentiated between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism to both of these groups meant a responsibility to fellow citizens and devotion to humanity and the common good. Fealty to the nation-state and its government – nationalism – was an entirely different concept. In fact, the original U.S. patriots fought the American Revolution against the British nation-state and its government to preserve the traditional Englishmen’s rights in the colonies, which were under attack from the British crown.

Unfortunately, in the 19th century, the concepts of patriotism and nationalism blended. On top of that, after World War II, U.S. foreign policy became permanently militarized and public guilt about some mistreatment of returning Vietnam conscripts has led to excessive post-Vietnam adulation of the U.S. military. The public also feels sheepish about its lack of sacrifice – for example, sitting in lazy boy recliners watching the Super Bowl – while young men and women fight the government’s wars.

Such excessive admiration of things military is quite the opposite of what the founders believed. They, almost to a man, were suspicious that large standing armies, such as those of 18th-century European monarchs, would be a major threat to liberty. Given this American history, the adoption by the House, unanimous passage by the Senate, and signing by the president in 2006 of the clearly unconstitutional Stolen Valor Act indicates that demagogic nationalism by politicians knows no bounds.

Wearing an unearned military medal falls under none of the traditional judicial limits imposed on First Amendment free speech – that is, obscenity, libel, or imminent danger to others. That is, the courts have ruled that the First Amendment protects almost all speech that doesn’t harm another person. Also, as Jonathan Turley a law professor at George Washington University told the Washington Post about the act, “Half the pickup lines in bars across the country could be criminalized under that concept.” Taking the absurdity even farther, a kid could be arrested for wearing old military medals as part of a Halloween costume.

Of course, if anyone attempts to profit from saying that they won an unearned medal, or by actually wearing one, he or she could still be charged with fraud.

Liberty, for which our military men and women are supposed to be fighting, should trump nationalism, faux patriotism, and militarism. In fact, all of these things probably harms the U.S. military more than a wannabe hero making false claims about earning a martial medal. All of these maladies, usually promoted by guilt-ridden expedient civilians, usually get military people killed in unnecessary wars – certainly more disrespect to the nation’s armed forces than faking a few medals.

Article printed from Antiwar.com Original: http://original.antiwar.com

URL to article: http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2010/ … atriotism/