No military parades

The U.S. should not conduct military parades, which were recently proposed by President Trump.

It would be very expensive to hold a vast parade that would put, for example, North Korea's to shame; it would be much better to use the funds to improve actual military readiness, to provide more needed services to veterans or to meet various social needs. Moreover, because our government is running ever-increasing deficits that must be paid off at some time in the future, we would essentially be asking our children and grandchildren to pay for an extravagant photo op.

Finally, conducting militaristic parades is a practice often associated with authoritarian governments past and present, a practice we do not need to imitate in a free country. We should instead, in the words of President Theodore Roosevelt, "speak softly and carry a big stick." In short, we do not need and should not hold military parades.

Cliff Darnall

Schaumburg