Understanding the True Motivations Behind Soldiers' Valor

Early in my career, a mentor advised me to write about whatever issue stirred the most anger within me each week. Although I rarely experience anger, this week I find myself compelled to follow that advice.

While browsing my phone last Monday afternoon, I encountered a Memorial Day essay written in 2009 by political scientist Patrick Deneen. In his piece, Deneen argued that soldiers do not go to war driven primarily by abstract ideals. Instead, he asserted, “they risk everything not for abstract concepts—ideas, ideals, natural rights, the American way of life, rights, or even their fellow citizens—but for the men and women in their unit.”

Though fighting for one's comrades is undeniably honorable, what unsettles me is Deneen's role as a prominent figure in the National Conservatism movement—a philosophical current influential within segments of the political right. His ideas have shaped the thinking of many who supported the recent administration.

In a similar vein, JD Vance echoed this perspective during his Republican National Convention speech, stating, “People will not fight for abstractions, but they will fight for their home.”

Such dismissive attitudes toward the moral convictions of soldiers—ignoring the historic examples of those who endured harsh winters at Valley Forge or stormed the beaches of Normandy and Guadalcanal—strike me as an elitist oversimplification.

More importantly, these viewpoints reveal a troubling moral decline at the heart of certain political ideologies today—an erosion of the highest ideals that define our nation and its people. This trend reduces complex human motivations to their most basic instincts, overshadowing the profound aspirations that inspire sacrifice and courage.