Freemen Fighting for Liberty?

Years have passed and I keep thinking
What a fool I've been
I look back into the past and 
Think of way back then
I know that I lost everything I thought that I could win
I guess I should have listened to my friends
--Mike Curb Congregation

On Memorial Day, we remember those who fell in action in various conflicts that the United States has been a part of. What we don't remember is that many of those conflicts were not fought by individuals who were exercising their free will to defend liberty, as Washington reminded troops in 1776.

Many conflicts fought since the Revolution featured conscription. US troops were forced to fight against their will. In such cases, soldiers who were drafted did not 'give their lives for their country.' Their country took their lives.

Still other wars were fought in an offensive posture. Rather than defending the blessings of liberty, the nature of military action is often aggressive toward foreign lands. Battlefield conscience sometimes tells combatants that they are dying for the wrong reason.

Sadly, soldiers who have fallen in conflicts consistent with the conditions Washington elaborates above constitute a minority fraction of the total casualty list that we seek to commemorate today.