Why isn't there an Activist Day or a Civic Day?

[expatriot]

I have always found this poem to be highly offensive:

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."

Of course every nation needs a military and those who serve and have served deserve our gratitude and honor. But any two-bit dictatorship has a military. A military does not a democracy make. Of course, our military serves the role of defending our borders from foreign invasion and occupation that would lead, hypothetically, to the overthrow of our representational style government.

But the spirit of this poem portends that the military is the KEEPER of these freedoms and puts the activists who exercises these freedoms in the role of the selfish, non-grateful child who is allowed to live in his nursery so well-cared for because of the hard work of his father.

The military has protected this nation from foreign invasion and advanced our interests - albeit at times imperialistic interests - abroad. But they are not the guaranteer of our freedoms just as the presence of a hard, intact shell is the guaranteer that the turtle inside is alive.

Where is the day of tribute for all the countless, nameless activists who have worked hard over the past 230 years to keep us free?

[John Q. Citizen]

1. May Day kind of serves that purpose in a lot of places.

It's a cheesy piece to be sure. And not exactly accurate either.

[VPStoltz]

2. Because of state law, I was involved in a Veterans Day

"observance" at the school where I work. The thought came to me in regard to the wingnuts wanting us to teach a "balanced" curriculum, that's to say creationism. Then I'm sure they would be happy for us to share a balanced look at what makes a veteran: lying pigs in D.C., wars of distraction, wars for oil, missions unaccomplished, billions down the tube, 100s of thousands dead to secure a market, etc. And, just to be nice, I'd throw in "and you know, it's all God's fault."