Jack of Harts

The Third Amendment to the US Constitution says that no soldier can be quartered in any house in time of peace, and in wartime only a manner specified in law. Like the amendments before it, this was enacted as a direct answer to British laws and actions that specifically violated these rights. The majority of the Bill of Rights is a big middle finger to the British, and this is one that has never been questioned or pushed against even by our own government. Remember it well. There are reasons it exists.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution recognizes that the government cannot establish a religion as the official religion of the land, nor can it prohibit us from following the religion of our choice freely. It cannot abridge our freedom of speech, either in our positions as common people or if we are are exercising it as part of the press. And we have the right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for grievances. These are the bedrock freedoms that our nation is built upon, and the government is not allowed to break them. Never forget this.

Memorial Day, or Decoration Day, was originally created to honor the dead of the Civil War, both Union and Confederate. It has been expanded to the dead of all our wars since then, but we should never forget that origin. After the greatest war in American history, pitting literal brother against brother in many cases, we chose as a nation to honor the dead of both the victors and defeated. Because we wanted to rebuild our shared nation so all of us would prosper. We should never forget that.