WEBVTT - Memorial Day: Honoring America's Fallen Heroes & Protecting Democracy

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<v Speaker 1>Today is Memorial Day, May seven, twenty twenty four, one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and sixty two days before the next American presidential election.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the warning. This is Arlington House. It sits

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<v Speaker 1>on a hill opposite the Potomac River, looking towards the

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<v Speaker 1>United States Capital, with the Washington Monument in the middle

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<v Speaker 1>facing the Lincoln Memorial. This was Robert E. Lee's home.

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<v Speaker 1>In this home he resigned his commission in the United

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<v Speaker 1>States Army and became the commander of the Army of

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<v Speaker 1>Northern Virginia. This property was confiscated by the government of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States and is the Butcher's Bill. For the

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<v Speaker 1>horror of the War of Secession. The American Army buried

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<v Speaker 1>instead on Lee's property, and today that property is America's

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<v Speaker 1>most hallowed grounds, Arlington National Cemetery. There in front of

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<v Speaker 1>every gravesite is a small American flag, put there to

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<v Speaker 1>remember the sacrifices and the service. Such it is so

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<v Speaker 1>at American cemeteries all over the world. General Colin Powell

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<v Speaker 1>famously commented that when the American Army came to Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>it did not come to occupy, and it did not

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<v Speaker 1>come to subjugate, but rather to liberate and the only

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<v Speaker 1>land that the United States ever asked for was simply

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<v Speaker 1>enough to bury its dead. These sacred spaces, these slivers

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<v Speaker 1>of United States territory, not the world, including at Normandy, France,

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<v Speaker 1>the cemetery in Colville, Somaia, above Omaha Beach. Here thirty

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<v Speaker 1>eight pairs of brothers are buried next to one another,

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<v Speaker 1>father and a son, almost ten thousand graves. Every headstone

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<v Speaker 1>faces west across the Atlantic Ocean, back towards American shores.

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<v Speaker 1>That they left, that they died fighting in a far

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<v Speaker 1>away land to protect. They died for a concept, for liberty, freedom,

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<v Speaker 1>human dignity. They died to free the enslaved and oppressed

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<v Speaker 1>peoples of Europe. The American soldier has fought for freedom

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<v Speaker 1>all across the world, sometimes in wars that should not

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<v Speaker 1>have been fought, were fought for misguided purposes, ideological purposes,

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<v Speaker 1>unnecessary purposes. Generation was sent to fight in the Vietnam

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<v Speaker 1>War when the politicians knew the war cannot be won,

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<v Speaker 1>that there was no hope of victory. Yet that does

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<v Speaker 1>not render the service less meaningful, or honorable or noble.

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<v Speaker 1>Because the intention of the American soldier for its service

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<v Speaker 1>of their nation has never been endowed when the cause

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<v Speaker 1>has been desecrated by the mischief, judgments, or the malice

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<v Speaker 1>or malfeasance of political leaders who were unworthy of the

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<v Speaker 1>responsibilities handed to them by the parents of those soldiers

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<v Speaker 1>through elections. There is no issue more important than peace.

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<v Speaker 1>There are major wars underway in the world on this

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<v Speaker 1>Memorial Day. Some demagoguic politicians in the United States say,

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<v Speaker 1>these wars do not involve us, these wars do not

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<v Speaker 1>threaten us. But that is not the lesson of history,

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<v Speaker 1>and that is not borne out by the sacrifices of

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<v Speaker 1>a million American dead who laid down their lives in

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<v Speaker 1>what Abraham Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion.

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<v Speaker 1>What history teaches us is that freedom comes at a

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<v Speaker 1>terrible cost and price. This Memorial Day, we should remember

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<v Speaker 1>the price and the cost of that freedom, because so

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<v Speaker 1>many Americans seem utterly indifferent to it, indifferent to the

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<v Speaker 1>freedom that they have that they possess that came with

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<v Speaker 1>such great cost. Yet there seems to be no memory

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<v Speaker 1>of the struggle, no recollection of the sacrifice, for so

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<v Speaker 1>many multitudes of Americans who go about oblivious to the

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<v Speaker 1>fangs that bear down on them even as we speak.

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<v Speaker 1>The jackboot is not a foreign disposition that is alien

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<v Speaker 1>to the American way of life. Make no mistake, it

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<v Speaker 1>can come down here and in many ways. It has

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<v Speaker 1>in many places. In difference is the friend of that

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<v Speaker 1>jack boot. It is the fuel of government thuggery. It

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<v Speaker 1>is what causes despotism. Today's a day when we celebrate

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<v Speaker 1>freedom by honoring the last full measure of devotion, where

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<v Speaker 1>we member the American soldier, sailor, airmen, marine coastguardsmen, and

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<v Speaker 1>merchant marine men who gave their life so that the

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<v Speaker 1>United States could endure. There is nothing in any of

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<v Speaker 1>our lives that is more important, Not our marriages, not

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<v Speaker 1>our children, not our money, not our prosperity, not our health.

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<v Speaker 1>Nothing more important that during the short span of our lives,

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<v Speaker 1>that we play our part as custodians and stewarts, preserving, protecting,

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<v Speaker 1>and defending, through acts small and large, the Constitution of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States of America for which they pledged their

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<v Speaker 1>lives and gave their lives. This is the cause of

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<v Speaker 1>American citizenship, This is the obligations of its duties and responsibilities.

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<v Speaker 1>And today we celebrate the greatest Americans amongst all Americans

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<v Speaker 1>who have ever been, there have only ever been seven

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<v Speaker 1>hundred million Americans. One million have given their lives in uniform.

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<v Speaker 1>They have represented every creed, every race, every faith. They

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<v Speaker 1>are the whole of the American people, and every one

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<v Speaker 1>of them was laid to rest under the national colors.

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<v Speaker 1>And today that flag, our American flag that we share,

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<v Speaker 1>our united symbol, that we lower to half mass and

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<v Speaker 1>then raise up to full staff, has fifty stars on

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<v Speaker 1>its canton. And that flag is truly the flag of

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<v Speaker 1>American freedom because it is the fifty star flag where

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<v Speaker 1>all Americans, of all creeds, all fates can finally participate

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<v Speaker 1>equally as citizens of the Great Republic. And that's something

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<v Speaker 1>worth celebrating and something worth remembering as we honor America's

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<v Speaker 1>fallen war dead today with the deepest gratitude and the

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<v Speaker 1>greatest love. They died for people they did not know,

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<v Speaker 1>people like us who were not born yet, so that

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<v Speaker 1>our children may live in peace and prosperity and freedom.

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<v Speaker 1>That is an act of love. Ponder its magnitude today,

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<v Speaker 1>if even for a minute, it will be a moment

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<v Speaker 1>that does some justice to the immensity of the sacrifice

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<v Speaker 1>made by so many so that we could walk free today,

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<v Speaker 1>look up at the sky or down at the grass,

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<v Speaker 1>and not worry about a monster behind the tree. Happy

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<v Speaker 1>Memorial Day. I'm Steve Schmidt. This is the warning and

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<v Speaker 1>I invite you to join. Subscribe on our sub stack,

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