America doesn’t need a parade to show its might
LATE-20th century lyricists the Geto Boys once stated, in their own way, that truly powerful people need not engage in conspicuous displays of strength, because such people are confident in said strength.
President Trump, still sore from losing his desired military parade in D.C. this year, ought to take these words to heart and totally scrap the idea of rolling tanks and marching battalions down the streets of the nation’s capital.
Trump grumpily stated on Twitter that he will spend Nov. 11, the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, at France’s military parade. This is doubly fitting.
As when President Ronald Reagan visited Normandy on the anniversary of D-Day, the American president should return to the scene of American triumph, where Col. Charles Stanton famously said, “Lafayette, we are here,” before the United States, by defeating the Central Powers, repaid France for its assistance in the American Revolution.
It’s also fitting that France should have a showy parade to flex its military muscle, and that the United States should not. France, you see, has something to prove.
France’s military is famous in the last century, mostly for having lost, allowing their people to fall under German control. Germany occupied northeastern France in World War I and most of France in World War II. Since then, the country has acquired nuclear weapons and aircraft carriers. And also since then, France has engaged in showy displays of its military might, particularly tank-filled parades down the Champs Elysee on Bastille Day. It was watching one such parade in 2017 that filled Trump with this urge to have his own military parade before him.
The United States doesn’t need to flex our military, though. We have the largest military in the world, the best equipment, the best-trained soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and the best commanders. The United States of America in 2018 is the most fearsome military this world has ever seen. We could destroy any country that we needed to. Every world leader knows this. There’s no need to preen.
So, we were cheered when Trump announced he wouldn’t have a parade this year. If the president insists on having one next year, aim for something different than a show of strength. How about something more modest?
Capitol Hill has a Marine barracks where the training and daily routine center around marching and parading. Let them lead the march.
Our war heroes have formed institutions like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Wounded Warriors, and more. Turn the parade into a true celebration of these veterans. Roll them down the street in old jeeps and retired Humvees (sparing D.C.'s streets the abuse of tank tracks). Tow a WW I prop fighter down Pennsylvania Avenue. Make it a joyful and solemn celebration of our victories rather than a gratuitous display of our strength, which no one in the world doubts.