Day: Thanks To Veterans, Who Never Truly Stop Serving Our Country

A release from State Representative Michael Day:

Thank you to our veterans. Every person who enlists in the armed forces, or who is
commissioned as an officer or who becomes a member of the National Guard takes an oath
which begins with that individual solemnly swearing to “support and defend the Constitution of
the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Explicit in that oath is the fact that
our system of government faces potential enemies on all fronts, including within our own
borders.

We, the United States of America, are involved in the single greatest and most successful
experiment in representative democracy in the history of the world. Other early democracies –
Mesopotamia, India, Sparta, Athens, Rome – all made important contributions to the notion that
government was best when it afforded equal justice to all under the law, no matter the social
standing or individual differences of its citizens. Yet like so many later democracies, including
the Weimar Republic in Germany or the Russian Federation which both lasted less than 20 years,
each of those early democratic societies eventually collapsed – some from the barbarian hordes
storming the gates, others from an internal abandonment of democratic principles that allowed
individuals or groups to pervert democratic traditions and turn free societies into dictatorships or
oligarchies.

So it is appropriate that our veterans take an oath to defend our system of government against all
enemies, foreign and domestic. It is also appropriate that there is no duration to that oath, no
expiration date. Our veterans never truly stop serving our country, whether in uniform or not,
and their vigilance is required by a government that functions for and by the people.

We just commemorated the one hundredth anniversary of Armistice Day, signaling the formal
end of World War I. We honored the veterans in attendance at our parades and ceremonies. We
set aside this 11 th day of November every year to honor the brave women and men who sacrificed
so much for those they will never know. In the past, I have said that we can honor these heroes
by listening to their stories, by thanking them for their service.

We can also honor and give true meaning to the service of our veterans by being active participants in our government. I am privileged to represent the towns of Stoneham and
Winchester, and I am very happy to report that approximately 70 percent of the eligible voters in
this district cast a vote in the elections last Tuesday. That is obviously a very encouraging
number for our area, but voting is not enough.

For us to truly honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans, we must all recognize that a
representative democracy cannot have passengers. We all, each one of us, have an obligation
and a duty to offer our voices and our energies and our talents to the task of furthering and
protecting our way of life. So yes, by all means vote. But also volunteer. Speak out when you
see injustice. Listen to others when they speak out about injustices. Stand up and do your part to
preserve this nation’s ideals, to further safeguard our fragile system of government.

The brave men and women we honor did that, and continue to do so. We thank them today for their deeds, and I hope we will honor them every day by our own actions.

May God bless our veterans, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.