I oppose its removal.

Today, many are warming to the idea that war monuments, parades and holidays are just government propaganda. It’s less about the debt and honor owed the soldiers, and more about trying to justify past and future military endeavors. The people who think this way are not all hippies and peaceniks.

I happen to be a young veteran with a normal job and a normal life. I “served my country” and then one day I woke up when I came to realize that war is not the solution, it never was, and never will be.

Sending our sons and daughters across the globe to fight in countless undeclared wars in countries that most Americans couldn’t locate on a map is beyond immoral. Spending almost $1 trillion a year to fund more than 1,000 U.S. military bases and 250,000 soldiers to act as global policemen in a state of permanent war is self-defeating, wasteful and unconscionable. How can anyone in their right mind support such insanity?