This Memorial Day weekend and with the upcoming 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, I’ve been contemplating what exactly would compel someone to risk their life and well-being in war. Are there any truly good causes, and might there be some causes that are just not worth taking up arms over? Can a country cease to be worth fighting for? Here are some of the things I’ve come up with. What do you think? – JP Mac

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People have been fighting for their countries for as long as there have been countries, but why? Groups like the Vikings, the Mongols, and others fought for resources and wealth. Warlords and kings have pressed others into military service, but what about in nations where military service is voluntary? Why would someone volunteer for military service? Military ranks swell when there is the notion that the homeland is threatened. Fighting for one’s home, one’s family, is probably the most basic, and common of reasons, but people will fight even on the behalf of despotic regimes if they feel their homes and loved ones are threatened. That is certainly a good reason, but beyond that, what causes are worth fighting and potentially killing and dying for? Specifically, what for us in the liberal, Western democracies is worth fighting for?

There are some reasons that good people might consider picking up arms and going to war for their country:

• Defense of home and family.
• Protection of private property, especially one’s own, or at least the right to it.
• The Rule of Law
• Equal protection under the law for all citizens.
• Leaders who rule with, and only with, the consent of the governed.
• The right to have a say in the making of law.
• The right to the fruits of one’s own labor.

There also are some things that are not worth spilling a drop of blood over. Some causes are not worthy causes, and thus are not worth picking up arms over:

• Defense of someone else’s property absent a reciprocal commitment by the other party. Don’t fight for someone who would not return the favor if they could.
• To keep an illegitimate government in power, one that does not have the consent of the governed.
• Revenge, if done as a sole purpose.
• To subjugate other people.
• To establish or perpetuate as cast or class system where rights are not shared equally by all citizens.
• For resources that can be obtained through peaceful means.

War, in any case, should be a last resort. After all, war is inherently destructive of life and property and so deserves gravest of consideration before being engaged in. All other alternatives should be exhausted before a single act of war is committed. When it comes to such considerations, they’re important with regards to contemplating warfare of any type. The subjugation of a people is not made better because no blood was shed to do it. Theft of a person’s labor or property is still theft, no matter how obtained. Virtually all wars throughout history have been a struggle over resources, either natural or human. In our modern society, there is however the notion that some wars are just, and some are not. Generally, those that are just are those fought in the name or protecting something– life, liberty, property. Those we consider unjust are generally fought to obtain something, labor, resources, power.