Spoken like someone in his 60's. Try to remember what it's like to be a teenager. Boys join the military because it's a step up for them, in terms of prestige. They get to wear pretty uniforms and impress the girls. What you perceive as waste they perceive as glory.
Sure, the Marine Bands and the Blue Angels are unnecessary - it's also probably a waste of the taxpayers money to bury anyone with the requisite service at Arlington Cemetery, and give their families a flag. But it makes people proud to be Americans, and that's a good thing, I think.
You could probably say that the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian, and so forth, are also wastes of the taxpayers' money - and the national parks, and the National Weather Service, on and on. Why waste money preserving the Liberty Bell and the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner? Why not pave over the Reflecting Pool, it would make great office space? So would Ellis Island. And while we are at it, chop down those cherry trees, we can use them for firewood. Sell Manassas Battlefield to Disney so they can build a theme park. I am sure you can come up with more suggestions. |
