[Leica] Flag project...Labor day musing...Utterly off topic

[MEB at GoodPhotos.com (Michael Eric Berube)]

On 9/4/05, B. D. Colen <bdcolen@comcast.net> wrote:

>> More to the point - If we live in America, and are Americans, why do we 
>> have
>> to fly flags or plaster flag stickers on our cars to tell people that 
>> we're
>> Americans? The flag has, unfortunately, become a political symbol.
>  
>
My friend, BD,
Our US Flags have always been political symbols. (Since the days of 
"Don't Tread On Me".) That is their nature and that is their purpose. 
Political rogues of both wings of our one Corporate Incumbent Party here 
in these United States have always wrapped themselves in the flag in 
lieu of actually taking a stand that would get them in trouble with 
those who hold their strings. The problem we face today is defining just 
WHAT political viewpoint that our flag stands for in such a supposedly 
polarized nation of Republicrat 'red states' and Demopublican 'blue 
states.' Me, I've always seen our flag as the embodiment of all of the 
promise that the Constitution once held for our nation.

Would that our vast hircine brood of an electorate actually treat our 
flag as political symbol with any meaning whatever, we'd likely be in 
far better stead. As it is, everyone from the Nascar set to the Ivy 
League liberal intelligentsia are treating our stars and stripes as a 
mere fashion symbol which says nothing more thoughtful and meaningful 
than "mega dittos."

Patriotism has become a flag bumper sticker and a rainbow of magnetic 
ribbons (all made in China by virtual slave labour and purchased at 
WalMart) on the rear end of a $40k SUV purchased on credit at 'employee 
prices.' As it turns out, it seems that it is far easier and trendy to 
tell all our fellow Sheeple in the lines at the pumps that we are just a 
part of the flock and just as incapable of fighting for a unique and 
complex political viewpoint of their own as the rest of the status quo 
who are shelling out $3.50/gallon and still driving our aforementioned 
17MPG SUVs with no other passengers.

Now having gladly given this nation eight years of my own Liberty as a 
veteran, I still have this nagging tendency to pay attention to standing 
regulations when it comes to such things and so in accordance with US 
Code Title 36 Chap 10 ?176 (A) I have flown my own 'fashion symbol' 
"union down" for quite a number of years. I've been hoping that someone 
may have the audacity to ask why it is that I'm doing so, so that I may 
induce them to actually read their Constitution and to see just how far 
from its tenets that we've allowed ourselves to stray in the name of 
some false sense of security.

Of course, the incumbency game is so well controlled now by our one 
political party that I'm not really all that hopeful that it would do us 
much good at all even if the media muddled masses all suddenly became 
aware that we once had a Constitution that protected us from usurpations 
of tyranny by guaranteeing the Individual Liberty we were granted by 
Nature and holding government in check, (we could maybe sneak this 
revelation into episodes of "Survivor" or "American Idol"?)
But you've got to start somewhere.

-- 
Be well,
Michael Eric Berube
AnotherMaine.com
GoodPhotos.com