Memorial Day and the Cost of War

Honor the fallen, grieve the loss, and choose peace through freedom.

Hello friends,

Memorial Day should interrupt us before it inspires us.

Before the cookouts, the travel, the sales, and the start-of-summer routines, this day should force a simple question: what did freedom cost, and how careful are we before asking another family to pay that price?

The Department of Veterans Affairs describes Memorial Day as the nation’s day to mourn and honor those who died in military service. That should make us grateful. But it should also make us sober. Behind every flag, every grave marker, and every folded uniform is someone who did not come home. A family still feels that empty seat. A future ended too soon.

That is why I’m moving my normal Monday This Week’s Economy post to Tuesday. That episode will focus on how to empower patients, not bureaucracies, because health care affordability matters deeply.

But Memorial Day deserves its own space first. Before getting back to prices, taxes, regulations, health care, or the week’s economic fights, we should pause to remember the men and women whose sacrifice makes every debate in a free country possible.

As an American, I am thankful for those who gave everything. As a Christian, I grieve the lives lost and the families left behind. And as someone who believes deeply in liberty, limited government, and human flourishing, I believe Memorial Day should remind us of a hard truth: war is the most dangerous thing government does.

This Memorial Day also carries a personal reminder for me. On May 25, 2002, I was in a major wreck that could have ended my life. By God’s grace, it did not. As I shared in Even Rockstars Can Make a Difference, that tragedy helped wake me up, redirect my purpose, and eventually deepen my mission to help others through the work I now describe as helping let people prosper.

I do not compare my story to the sacrifice of those we honor on Memorial Day. I do understand that life is fragile, time is a gift, and purpose should not be wasted.

Honor Without Worshiping War

We can honor sacrifice without glorifying war.

Those who died in service deserve gratitude, prayer, and remembrance. Their families deserve more than polished statements once a year. But honoring the fallen does not require pretending every war was wise, every intervention was necessary, or every foreign policy decision deserved a blank check.

Sometimes free people must defend themselves. Threats are real. Peace through weakness is not peace. But war should be rare, constitutional, defensive, accountable, and truly necessary.

That is why the current moment matters. President Trump, like many presidents before him, faces pressure to use American military power in dangerous foreign conflicts. Recent reporting around U.S.-Iran negotiations, the Strait of Hormuz, and the possibility of a broader agreement shows how quickly foreign policy can move between diplomacy, blockade, military posture, and war risk.

I hope diplomacy succeeds. But hope is not a constitutional strategy. A constitutional republic should not drift into open-ended conflict because any president wants flexibility without accountability.

This is not only about President Trump. Most presidents want more discretion in foreign affairs than the Constitution allows. Congress too often avoids responsibility. Bureaucracies prefer momentum. Media cycles reward action. But military families pay the cost.

Before any leader supports military action, that leader should be able to look a grieving spouse, parent, or child in the eye and explain why the sacrifice was necessary. Not useful. Not politically convenient. Not vaguely strategic.

Necessary.

That is the standard a free people should demand.

Congress Must Vote

The Founders understood that war grows government, and they did not want one person holding that much power.

That is why the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, not the president. This was not a technicality. It was a safeguard. If Americans are going to be sent into harm’s way, the people’s elected representatives should have to debate it, vote on it, and be accountable for it.

That process slows things down. Good. It should.

War should not be easy. It should not depend on one person’s judgment, one administration’s ambitions, or one crisis narrative from the national security bureaucracy. Requiring Congress to vote makes war less likely, more accountable, and more connected to the consent of the governed. That is how a republic stays more peaceful, more prosperous, and more free.

George Washington warned in his Farewell Address against unnecessary permanent alliances. Thomas Jefferson later gave a similar North Star in his First Inaugural Address: peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, while avoiding entangling alliances. That was not weakness. That was wisdom.

The Founders wanted America engaged with the world through trade, diplomacy, friendship, and example. They did not want a permanent war footing that lets presidents accumulate power, Congress avoid responsibility, and taxpayers and military families carry the costs.

Trade Builds What War Breaks

Trade is not just about cheaper goods, though that matters for families trying to make ends meet. Trade is about cooperation.

When people trade, they create value together. They build relationships. They discover mutual benefit. They learn that people across borders can be partners in exchange rather than enemies to be managed or feared.

Commerce does not guarantee peace, but it makes peace more valuable and war more costly.

War does the opposite. It destroys life, property, trust, and prosperity. It replaces voluntary exchange with command. It replaces prices with rationing. It replaces cooperation with coercion. It replaces abundance with scarcity.

That is why free trade is also a peace policy.

A serious America First approach should not mean America everywhere, in every dispute, indefinitely. It should mean defending Americans, protecting liberty, preserving the republic, trading freely with willing nations, and requiring Congress to do its job before Americans are sent into war.

Strength matters. But so does restraint. Humility is not weakness. Prudence is not surrender. Peace is not naïve when it is grounded in strength, freedom, and moral clarity.

Bad Policy Has Human Costs

Most of my work focuses on the everyday costs of bad policy: inflation, debt, taxes, regulation, unaffordable health care, high energy prices, and weaker opportunity.

Memorial Day reminds us that the cost of bad policy can be much greater.

Sometimes it is not just a higher bill. Sometimes it is a folded flag. Sometimes it is an empty chair at the table. Sometimes it is a veteran carrying wounds no one sees. Sometimes it is a family that never fully heals.

That should humble every policymaker.

We need leaders who trade more and threaten less. Leaders who defend America without trying to manage the world. Leaders who respect constitutional limits. Leaders who understand that peace is fragile, freedom is precious, and war should never become just another option on a policy menu.

The Bottom Line

Memorial Day is a day for gratitude, grief, prayer, and humility.

We honor those who gave everything. We mourn with families who still carry the loss. We thank God for the freedoms we still enjoy. And we should recommit ourselves to policies that make war less likely, peace more durable, and liberty more secure.

The best way to honor the fallen is not to glorify war. It is to build a country worthy of their sacrifice: strong but restrained, patriotic but humble, free but responsible, and committed to peace through liberty.

May God bless the families of the fallen.

May God comfort those who still grieve.

May God give wisdom to our leaders.

And may we let people prosper in peace.

Thank you for reading, reflecting, and sharing this work. Find more of my work at Ginn Economic Consulting at vanceginn.com and subscribe to my newsletter today.

Let people prosper,

Vance Ginn, PhD

President, Ginn Economic Consulting