I know from whence I speak.
Was it not Republican President Roosevelt who said, “Walk softly and carry a big stick”?
Nothing draws out the juices of the opposition more than self-aggrandizing displays of one’s own importance and power. A hyperbolic display of U.S. military might with a tank and artillery parade on the streets of D.C. would have been anathema to Roosevelt – and every former U.S. President.
In 1969, Soviet leader Leonard Brezhnev was acting to solidify his control over the Russian Politburo and leaders of its east-European satellites. I witnessed, first hand, a Soviet-style military “parade” of weapons, celebrating the 20th anniversary of communist East Germany (the GDR).
October 7, 1969, countless, awesome tanks and extraordinarily elongated artillery thundered deafeningly down Karl-Marx-Allee as testimony to the mighty munitions of the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War. In the face of such massive machinery, I felt small and inconsequential.
Thinking back, dehumanization was the point.
The sound was deafening. It contrasted sharply with the temperate, enjoyable parades in my own country, where flowered floats, acrobatic clowns, beauty queens, veterans of foreign wars and local civic leaders strolled down Main streets to celebrate America. Unsusceptible to the intended arousal of fear or dread, my thoughts inclined toward, “I will be returning to school in the United States in a few months, where it is not necessary to display a show of military force to feel the power undergirding our society.” For all that show of hubris, a mere 20 years later the U.S.S.R. would cede control of East Germany to West Germany in unification under democratic governance.
Today’s military show-offs are North Korea, China and, again, Russia. Seeing their military parades on TV, I know what spectators experience who are in thrall to the absolute power of their governments. I had only to experience it once to remember it forever.
The U.S. Army is working on plans to celebrate its 250th year anniversary on June 14. President Trump has re-initiated his first-term intention to hold a full-throttled, military-style parade in Washington D.C. on that day. Both ABC and NBC News report the parade will involve 150 war-ready tanks and infantry vehicles of 30-70 tons, 50 military aircraft and 6,600 uniformed soldiers moving through the streets of Washington D.C. – costing upwards of $45 million dollars.
This is a terrible idea. Allowing this to happen, even once, would affect the perception of America as a non-aggressive nation. The U.S. military protects our country, but it remains one aspect of an incredible, comprehensive society. Featuring military might, ostentatiously, diminishes the significance of other aspects of our economy and our culture that made the United States so impressive.
U.S. Army leaders in Trump’s previous term successfully resisted Trump’s push for a similar, multi-million-dollar display of force in the nation’s capital. This time, individual citizens need to resist the President, through their Congressional representatives.
A parade of weaponry on the scale anticipated flies in the face of the radical, ostensibly cost-saving maneuvers by DOGE that eviscerated a staggering number of federal agencies over the past 100 days. A $45 million dollar parade, incurred on the heels of firing thousands of federal employees and cancellation of too many beneficial federal programs affecting Connecticut, would be an affront to the thousands laid-off and the abolishment of what was – for many – their life’s work.
Sallie Marsico lives in Norwalk.