In 1988, I was stationed in western Germany, and on Veterans Day my wife and I, along with our young children, drove into eastern France, the site of many World War I battlefields. A few sections of preserved trenches, some monuments and rows of thousands of graves sit silently among the picturesque French countryside, the only testaments to the horrific scenes there between 1914 and 1918.
Our destination that day was the Meuse-Argonne American cemetery. It was a beautiful fall day, and golden rays of afternoon sunshine filtered through surrounding trees to baptize more than 14,000 perfectly aligned grave markers: Christian, Jewish and Muslim. Each had small U.S. flags perfectly centered before the monuments that bore the soldiers' names, home states and the day they fell. We were alone in that sacred spot, and after strolling silently, we bowed and thanked God for their sacrifice. All of us were moved to tears. But what did their sacrifices mean?
They answered the call to serve from American farms and cities while in the prime of their young lives, and they died because of the ideological schemes of liberal elites (then called progressives) like Democratic President Woodrow Wilson. The elites cried the doughboys' sacrifices would "make the world safe for democracy," but the words did little to comfort grieving families. Americans told Wilson where he could put his proposed League of Nations. They learned their country could not save the world from itself, despite righteous intentions.
Liberal elite radicals today still are self-righteous. They bow at the altar of their holy domestic agenda: gun control, abortion, homosexual marriage, man-made climate change and race-baiting. Anyone who stands in the way of their righteous agenda is, by definition, evil: President Trump because "deplorables" elected him; Christians, because they believe God "knew you in the womb"; heterosexual men, well, simply because they are heterosexual men, especially if they also happen to have white skin; or, honest judges because they interpret laws according to the Constitution.
Since the Kavanaugh nomination this summer, however, their focus is the preservation of Roe vs. Wade. No religious tenet was ever regarded more highly by the most pious monk than Roe v. Wade by liberals. William McGurn, no conservative, recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "Judge Kavanaugh's great misfortune is to have been nominated at a moment when the party in opposition frets this fixed and sacred ruling could be overturned He is also what the Democrats fear most on the courts: an honest judge. Which is why he and his innocent family are being destroyed before our very eyes."
There are two reasons radical Democrats fear an honest judge, neither of which has anything to do with Kavanaugh's alleged misdeeds. First, the liberal agenda cannot be advanced through legislative means. Kavanaugh is a constitutionalist, which means he interprets laws according to our Constitution, not according to shifting whims of society. The left survives only if it can push its agenda through the courts.
Second, destroying Kavanaugh is the ultimate act of "resistance" by Democrats against Trump. They used Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as a pawn to advance their crusade to stop Trump and the platform on which he campaigned. The platform included appointing constitutional scholars to the Supreme Court.
So, as we reflect on Veterans Day next month and honor those men and women who answered the call to serve, let's ask ourselves just what their sacrifice meant. Is their America worth preserving? Are our laws that define justice, opportunity and security worth preserving? The Democrats, prioritizing politics during the Kavanaugh hearings, made a mockery of the three most basic tenets of such laws: the presumption of innocence, fairness and due process.
How will you answer?
Roger Smith, a local author, is a frequent contributor to the Times Free Press.