I wish I could say I am grateful for the people that defeated fascism in WWII but unfortunately many of them later helped install a fascist dictator in America, cheered for turning people like Kilmar Abrego Garcia into essentially POWs, and are actively supporting the expansion of a surveillance and prison state that Hitler and Stalin would have envied.
Instead I want to spotlight trans servicemembers who, while technically being discharged honorably, are simultaneously being smeared as inconsistent with “an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle". There is nothing honorable about how they are being treated, it is another stain on a flag already soaked with blood.
The weird thing about living in an empire is that I am both disgusted by its crimes and the urgency of ending them, and acutely aware that we are profoundly hated for it around the world. The justifiable resentment of our shame parade of war crimes means if we don't maintain defensive power, we're easy targets of retribution.
That's not to say I support the military status quo, but rather that I realize a shift in foreign policy isn't realistic overnight. To transition away from dependence on a global power footprint would mean restoring diplomatic friendships, relationships of commerce, and that kind of thing. Rebuilding trust after so deeply fracturing it is going to take time.
I don't think it needs to take decades, but I'm just a layperson dreaming of a world that doesn't exist. Like I said, the need is urgent, but as anyone who has been through recovery can tell you, it's surprising how rapidly one can rebuild one's life when we take the amends process seriously. So it might not be as hard as we think; the hardest step is the first one.
I've seen people openly fantasize about being invaded and liberated but I don't think that would be as pretty as those people think. Becoming a target for whatever empire rises next in human history is not freedom. So for me, that's not a desirable path forward. I would like to see the US repent, and exemplify evolution beyond these kinds of political super structures.
I want to see a collaborative, non-violent world emerge organically from the wreckage of our hierarchical past, having learned from the cycles of history how to live wisely in peace. And I don't see any form of conquest, not even violent revolution, as a viable pathway toward that. That path cannot lead through domination, it must lead through metamorphosis.
So right now, this very day, I am unironically grateful for specifically trans veterans - people who bravely chose to enter an institution that was historically hostile and put their lives on the line for queer acceptance and their own conception of national service. They trusted and believed in the promises this nation made, and were betrayed. For that I am deeply sorry.
Thank you for your service to the US. I hope one day we find the integrity and goodness in our national spirit to make the amends we owe you. 🏳️⚧️
