May is National Military Appreciation Month in the United States. Unlike many government-designated days and months of appreciation, this has a surprisingly rigorous intellectual rationale that goes far beyond the calendar placement of Memorial Day. Thanks in no small degree to Senator John McCain’s spearheading of the legislation passed by the 106th Congress on April 30, 1999, woven within the resolution’s text is a timely civic lesson for all Americans.
Its teaching extends beyond mere commemoration of historical events to the sinews of American democracy. The Armed Forces are to be appreciated throughout May, not just because they have put on the nation’s uniform while others have not, and have sacrificed physically and mentally while wearing it. It is also because “preserv[ing] and foster[ing] the honor and respect that the United States Armed Forces deserve” is, in fact, the key to those military forces “preserv[ing] the freedoms and liberties that enrich the Nation” by their active supporting of the Constitution.
Commitment by “we, the people” to the principles of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence requires an awareness that is vibrant and alive, beyond lip-service sayings and theatrical displays. Citizenship, in other words, is an active rather than a passive verb. It requires a certain amount of prior intellectual knowledge, along with some learned civic behaviors or habits outwardly expressing that knowledge alongside one’s fellow citizens.
But there’s a third element rooted in emotion or passion, what we’ve called civic affection or attachment, but what traditionally was called love of country or patriotism. This is why the purpose of Military Appreciation Month is also “to inspire greater love of the United States” and “to instill in the youth of the United States the significance of the contributions” made by US military members and their families.
Several related holidays or days of commemoration throughout May exemplify these various aspects of what a true appreciation of the US Armed Forces ought to be. Since 1955, (though with origins stretching as far back as 1921), May 1 has been “Loyalty Day”—a day President Dwight D. Eisenhower set aside to highlight how America’s exceptional commitment to each individual’s inherent rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is ensured via its democratic form of government, in sharp contrast to communist regimes which denigrate or deny individual rights and freedoms. Rallies sponsored in part by Veterans of Foreign Wars helped to inspire Eisenhower’s designation of the holiday, marked every years since by a presidential declaration, however unnoticed that has gone by the public.
Read the rest of the article at IWF.
Rebecca Burgess is a Senior Fellow at Yorktown Institute.
