There is a lot of talk about privilege these days. There is “white privilege”, “male privilege”, “hetero-sexual privilege”, “socio-economic privilege”, “able-bodied privilege” and the list goes on and on. The definitions and validity of these categories of privileges are imprecise at best, and spurious at worst. Much of this talk around privilege has to do with “unearned privilege”. Proponents of classifying everything as privilege argue that “privilege isn’t about what you’ve gone through; it’s about what you haven’t had to go through” to get what you have.
Vice President Kamala Harris recently tweeted about Memorial Day saying, “enjoy the long weekend.” There is a reason why we have Memorial Day, and it is not so we can have a three-day weekend, or we can barbecue in our backyards. No, Memorial Day is exactly what its name means, to memorialize the men and women who fought and laid down their lives for our country, for our Constitution, for our rights, for our freedom, for our privilege to live in the United States.
That privilege of being an American, to many of us, is one of the greatest unearned privileges of all, not only because it bestows the greatest benefits, but because of what we did not have to go through to receive it. Most of us who will be enjoying our three-day weekend, and barbecuing in our backyards with the full rights and freedoms ensured by our Constitution did not fight at Valley Forge, or Gettysburg, or Belleau Wood. We didn’t storm the beaches at Normandy, or lay down our lives in Korengal Valley in Afghanistan.
Most of us were handed the privilege to live in the greatest country in the world has ever known because of others were willing to bleed and die for our privilege. The least we can do is acknowledge the sacrifice of the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could have the ultimate unearned privilege. But we should also be inspired by their courage and love of country to stand up, at least with our voices, and denounce the insidious infiltration of the far-left totalitarianism bent on destroying the United States. We can do at least that, and it starts with acknowledging the great gift that this country is, and showing appreciation to those who gave everything so we could have it.
Kamala Harris refuses to acknowledge her unearned privilege of living in the United States, and because of that, she is more than willing to allow the destruction the very country that spawns the greatest privilege of all by destroying our Constitution and corrupting our system of democracy to ensure her perverse power falsely believing that she is the one fighting the good fight because she refuses to acknowledge those who already have.
So Memorial Day is not solely about recognizing the sacrifice of the men and women who laid down their lives to create and defend this great country, but is also an acknowledgment of how great our country is because when we do, we will be that much more willing to defend it against the unending existential threats, foreign and domestic, designed to destroy it. And how we fight these battles will determine whether “we shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”
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Judd Garrett is a graduate from Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He is a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.