The Parade of Power on Taxpayer Dime

On June 14th, as America marks the birthday of Donald Trump and the Army’s birthday, Washington D.C. will become the stage for something far more symbolic than streamers or sparklers. The capital is preparing to host a full-scale military parade —tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue, jets screaming across the sky, troops marching in polished formations. It’s an event straight out of a strongman’s dream, not the democratic values this country claims to uphold.

Let’s call this what it is: a parade not of patriotism, but of power worship.

In modern democracies, military parades are rare and reserved for solemn moments—remembrances, endings of wars, or the honoring of fallen soldiers. But to celebrate a former president’s birthday? This isn't tradition. It's mimicry.

Such displays are hallmark behaviors of authoritarian regimes. In Russia, Vladimir Putin uses Victory Day parades to reinforce his grip on the narrative of national glory. In North Korea, Kim Jong Un watches missiles trundle by with operatic fanfare. China, too, holds vast military spectacles to underscore the strength and discipline of its ruling party. These aren’t just celebrations—they’re performances designed to intimidate, to project dominance, and to center the personality cults of their leaders.

That’s what makes this so deeply unsettling. America, courtesy of our Founding Fathers, was built to be different. And yet, we are watching the gradual normalization of political theater that once belonged firmly on the other side of the Cold War.

The parade, reportedly running into the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, comes at a time when the country is supposedly tightening its belt. We are told there isn’t enough money to keep food stamps at sustainable levels. We are watching education programs get gutted, medical services strained, infrastructure crumbling, and yet—there always seems to be enough for vanity. Vanity cloaked in camouflage.

Think for a moment about where that money could go instead.

What if, instead of funding a militarized birthday party, those millions were directed toward supporting homeless veterans—more than 33,000 of whom sleep on the streets of the country they served? What if it funded trauma counseling for the wives, children, and parents of Gold Star families who lost everything in foreign wars? What if it supported wounded warriors still fighting battles inside their own minds and bodies?

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

That would be a true show of strength. A nation that takes care of its own. A nation that honors its defenders not with performative flyovers, but with policy, compassion, and permanence.

This parade isn't about veterans. It isn’t about freedom. It’s about the dangerous transformation of military might into a personal branding tool. That’s where the real threat lies—not in the roar of the jets, but in the silence of those who know better and say nothing.

History tells us how quickly democracies can be undermined, not by sudden coups, but by the slow, theatrical erosion of values. Every time we tolerate spectacle over substance, every time we allow political leaders to leverage symbols of national service for self-celebration, we edge further from what this country claims to represent.

Trump’s defenders will say it’s about pride, tradition, strength. But whose tradition? Strength at what cost? Pride for whom? Would you really rather see this nonsense that help a wounded veteran in need?

If the former president wants a birthday party, let him buy balloons. Let him hire a band. But don’t ask struggling Americans to foot the bill for his fantasy of greatness. Don’t dress up authoritarian pageantry as patriotism and tell us it’s freedom.

Because freedom isn’t measured by how many tanks we can line up on Constitution Avenue. It’s measured by how we care for the people who made those tanks possible—the soldiers, the families, the forgotten.

America doesn’t need another parade. America needs to remember what truly makes it strong. And that strength has never come from the sound of marching boots. It comes from the quiet courage of sacrifice. The silent dignity of service. The uncelebrated, underfunded heroes who ask for nothing but deserve everything.

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