The Best Way to Honor Our Veterans

On Veterans Day, we honor the brave men and women who answered the call to serve their country with dedication and sacrifice. 

It’s an important tradition, and one worthy of recognition.

I don’t think that we do our veterans justice when we thank them for their service with a pat on the back, or a Facebook post one day a year, and then go back to business as usual the other 364. 

That just seems kind of empty. 

I tend to think that the best way to actually pay tribute to the sacrifice and service of veterans is to work to create a world where fewer young people have to go through the horrors of war in the first place.

Politicians and bureaucrats treat war as a tool to flex power, pad their pockets, and move international chess pieces in ways that serve their special interests, all while our sons and daughters (and countless millions of innocent people in foreign lands) pay the price.

Frédéric Bastiat warned, “When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will,” and I believe this to be true. Many religious, political, and regional disagreements can (and have been) set aside when mutually beneficial trade makes getting along more profitable than going to war. 

Peace isn’t just a nice idea. It’s a practical, achievable—even essential—policy for any nation that wants to stay prosperous for long.

We all know veterans who exemplify courage, selflessness, and loyalty. Those values deserve recognition—we need more people with strength of character. But I’d like to see us raise future generations who can develop those traits without having to get them deployed to foreign lands, fighting for interests that may not be their own.

The great Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises believed that only reason could conquer war. And where does reason come from? 

It comes from knowledge. 

It comes from understanding history and being able to apply its lessons to the things happening right now. It’s about making wise observations, and then acting on them.

This is why learning history is so vital to building a free and prosperous future.

When we understand the causes and consequences of conflict, we’re better equipped to advocate for peace—for solutions that don’t unnecessarily put generations of young women and men in harm’s way.

This Veterans Day, we’re offering over 70% off our history books. 

If we want to build a future where peace, not conflict, is the norm, it’s going to have to start with a generation that has a rich understanding of the past and can act to avoid the pitfalls those before them couldn’t.

Honoring those who serve means more than looking back—it means moving forward with the lessons they’ve taught us, and using them to build a better, more peaceful, and more prosperous future.

It’s what our kids deserve.

— Connor