I WANT MY FLAG BACK!

[Thunderbeast]

Somewhere in the last fifty years, we have allowed the American Flag to be conscripted and defiled by radical conservatives, evangelical fundamentalists, and militarists. I WANT MY FLAG BACK! I want my flag to represent the good that our people can do when we work together to make ALL OF US healthier, happier, and more prosperous.

The American Flag is NOT owned by a conservative Republican Party. It has been proudly carried by progressives, liberals, and even Socialists for decades.

The American Flag IS NOT the exclusive totem of white Evangelical Christians. It is the flag that represents hope for Muslims, Jews, Hopi, Hindus, Agnostics and even Athiests. Stop using it to force your particular belief systems on the rest of us. Adams, Madison, Jefferson, and Hamilton WERE VERY CLEAR! No faith will dominate laws and policies. The mottoes and pledges that we know from our currency and schoolroom rituals ARE NOT traditions of the founding fathers. They were inventions from modern times that were meant to provide a symbolic gesture (and thus avoid making meaningful sacrifices) . The Pledge of Allegiance was a creation of the Reader's Digest magazine in the 20th century.

We honor and respect the brave Americans who fought and died in defense of the nation. That, however, does NOT mean that unquestioning allegiance to a flag or a government is required in order to be a patriot, or to be grateful. Real patriots would spend more effort working to take care of veterans, and give more than lip-service to their needs. It means raising the money by PAYING TAXES for health care, mental health and addiction services, and housing. MY FLAG honors vets by REALLY caring for their needs.

Standing for the National Anthem is NOT “patriotic”. Standing is an abstract gesture that has become meaningless in the context of swilling beers before kickoff. Those athletes that have chosen to take a knee in protest of systemic failings of our institutions, are making a statement about SPECIFIC injustices. They are risking career and fortune in hopes that our people will live up to the ideals represented by that flag.

Finally, a shout out to Meghan Linsey. She sang the song with emotion, then, in a gesture that made my eyes swell a bit, she took a knee. To me, her kneeling down was the most powerful image of this memorable Football Sunday. The news reports that other singers took a knee as well.

[WinstonSmith00]

1. Taking a knee is more approriate.

For all the men and women who have gave their lives for the ideals of freedom which that flag is suppose to represent.

[Aristus]

2. K&R!

Thank you, Thunderbeast.

[Stonepounder]

3. K & R !!

Yes! This articulates and clarifies what I have been feeling. I want to feel proud of my country again instead of depressed and embarrassed.

When Watergate blew-up, it was the most Conservative Senator who went as part of the delegation to tell Nixon to resign. Now we have Republicans who try and impeach a President, knowing that they will never be able to remove him, over a private sexual encounter, Republicans who have been after the Clintons for over 20 years, but who willingly turn a blind eye to a President who spits in the eye of the Constitution he swore to uphold.

I didn't agree with much of what various Presidents did, but I never felt they were traitors to their oath. I never felt that they were dealing dishonestly or trying to divide the country. Or that they had no clue what the job entailed.

I want MY country back. A country that espouses the principles set forth in the Declaration of Liberty and codified in the Constitution. I country where the Statue of Liberty is a welcoming beacon of hope, where we strive for inclusiveness and try to be a country that welcomes all faiths, all cultures, all races. Where Conservatives and Liberals can come together and find compromises that don't please everyone, but try and please most.

I want MY flag and MY country back as well!

[bearssoapbox]

6. More good points!

You and the OP put into words how I feel but don't write them down for one reason or another.

Thanks.

[bearssoapbox]

4. K & R With Gusto!!

Very well said.

[iluvtennis]

5. Well stated!

[MLAA]

7. Well done!

[WinkyDink]

8. I am very patriotic with symbols (symbols are important). I stand, sing the anthem, yada yada. BUT--

I am down with ALL protests about the government's departure from our values and often our very laws.

I respected the hell out of Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. I was 18. If my parents thought ill of them, I don't remember their saying it, so I'm assuming they, too, supported the athletes.

As I support the athletes now.

[AllaN01Bear]

9. I WANT MY FUCKING COUNTRY BACK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance_(United_States)

[yuiyoshida]

10. I want OUR WHITE HOUSE BACK, ITS NOT FOR JUST TRUMP'S BASE....

ITS EVERYONES FUCKING WHITE HOUSE.

[RobinA]

11. Was Just Thinking This

Driving to work today I saw another one of the proliferating flags flying from the back of pick-up trucks. And I don't even live in Redsville. The the sight of the flag is beginning to make me feel nauseated and it's because it has become a sign of racist reich-wingerism and all that entails. It's become a sign of hate. To me the flag used to be a sign of our Constitution and Enlightenment ideals put to practice, flawed though we may be. I stopped putting it out myself when we opened Guantanamo, because that, to me, was not the America I believed in. I figured when we closed that I'd put it out again. HA! It's how many years later, Guantanamo is still open, and if they closed it tomorrow I wouldn't put my flag out because it's been co-opted to mean everything I DON'T believe in. Hell, this weekend reading the news about Merkel I'm thinking Germany is the place to live. How's that for irony?