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Flag Day–long may it wave — 11 Comments

  1. Hi Jesse: I guess you have been doing some reading here, and don’t particularly like what you see.

    Symbols are symbols, actually, and, as such, they are respected (and people get misty-eyed about them) because they represent those things that we do care about, such as democracy and freedom. I think that’s the point of a symbol; I don’t confuse the symbol with the thing itself, but the symbol does have meaning.

    I haven’t gotten around to writing the 9/11 part of my “A mind is a difficult thing to change” series yet. Since I haven’t described that part of my process of change, I can understand how you might think what happened was that, after 9/11, I was so frightened that I changed instantly: poof, I’m a neocon!

    But that’s not what happened; it was actually a very slow process that took about two years and involved a great deal of reading, for example. Nor do I accept everything Bush says or does, by any means. I simply think that the opposition party and its candidates appear to be far worse at understanding or fighting this particular war. I don’t demand perfection in fighting a war–which is fortunate, because I doubt we’re going to get it–but I think that, on the whole, the Bush administration has done a pretty good job with the really difficult hand it’s been dealt as far as the war on terrorism (or, as I and many others prefer to call it, the war on Islamofascism) goes.

  2. Look, the fact is that the flag is just a piece of cloth. When you forget that, when you invest it with some kind of sacred identity, you hand great power to whomever controls that symbol. That’s why many people are skeptical of the flag, and why we are all better off not taking it seriously. Surely we can honor and believe in the things it supposedly represents — democracy etc — without getting misty-eyed about a symbol.

    As for the thrust of this blog in general: It’s amazing to me that Neo-Neocon seems to think that the only choices availale are complete support of George W. Bush and the neocon agenda on the one hand, and surrender to terrorism on the other. There are a great many of us on the left–and this is something the right absolutely refuses to acknowledge–who understand the seriousness of the war on terror, who support the war in Afghanistan and are not opposed in principle to the war in Iraq, yet who don’t trust Bush, who despise his incompetence and his policy of torture, and who don’t believe that he has any real interest in democracy (after all, he did steal the 2000 election. And you know it. If you disagree, take the test at http://www.stopgwbush.us/illegitimate.html). We’re amazed and sickened by Bush’s complete lack of interest in history and the sociology of power in Iraq, a lack of interest that has cost us dearly (remember the flowers thing? Bush seems to think, in his ignorance, that everyone just wants to be Americans, so no need to plan for reality.) Oh yeah, and we’re infuriated by his domestic agenda. And we don’t want to live in a theocracy.

    Neo-neocon seems to have been so terrified by the events of 9/11 that she’s embraced a completely uncritical, completely ahistorical worldview in the service of someone she believes can protect her. And that’s just sad.

  3. “The US is far from perfect, but it is a good country nevertheless, striving to be better.

    neo, you realize that you have just defined the pivot that separates the Left from the Right, right?

    Listen to Howie. Or to Nancy. Or Michael Moore.

    No, we aren’t perfect. That is a fact. No work of man ever will ever be perfect, but this grand experiment has run through more than two centuries of the most tumultuous human history and the track record speaks for itself.

    Rule of law, government accountable to the governed, and free markets provide more strength, stability, and prosperity for the greatest number of citizens than any other system of government yet devised.

    A party that operates within our politic that has nice things to say about Castro or racial preferences or socialized health care ought not to be surprised when they lose elections…

    …but our moonbats have been losing for thirty years and still can’t get past blaming FOX news and evangelical Christians.

  4. I read about 25 blogs regularly but yours is by far the deepest. I think you should publish a book. I would buy it.

  5. Kinda’ sad here in President Dubya Bush’s hometown. I remember right after 9/11 almost every house on my block had a flag of some sort proudly showing.

    Now…well there were three of us on the block that had flags up and one of those was a “contract” flag. The Boy Scouts contract with homeowners to put flags in their yards on holidays. Love the Boy Scouts {Eagle Scout here…} but if you are healthy and just can’t find the time to put your own flag out…please don’t bother paying someone to do it for you.

  6. One difference between leftists and the rest of us: when leftists see the flag, the first thing they think of is George W. Bush’s face; when the rest of us see the flag, the first things we think of are our friends’ and neighbors’ faces.

  7. “Lost holiday” indeed! It was always a bit of a mystery to me growing up, a holiday I don’t remember ever being explained to us (thanks for the history link!) or observed with much special attention. We flew the flag every day at my elementary school anyway. (I remember enjoying the privilege on a few occasions of helping to tend our outdoor flag, and learning how to fold it properly and handle it with due respect. I never then imagined anyone feeling otherwise about our cherished national symbol, representative of the best of who we were and what we had achieved.) And yes, there’s the added issue of not getting the day off, which to a kid at least seemed to imply a lesser importance as holidays go…

    Now, after all we’ve been through in recent years, but also having taken notice of a seeming loss of confidence in our way of life even prior to 9/11 and its aftermath, the day inevitably carries newfound meaning for me. Thinking about it, I’ve never really tended to outward displays of affiliation such as T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. either. I feel such a strong love of and confidence in who we are in my heart, maybe I just assume that others can see that. It’s amazing to me what a powerful symbol even a small, discrete flag lapel pin can be nowadays, which I guess has become my flag display of choice on occasions of observance such as 9/11. I’ve come to especially like historic flags for the reminder of our origins that they provide (the Bennington is a favorite).

    The patriotic song I most remember from grade school is “My Country ’tis of Thee”. I now wish I had a recording of us singing it to augment my memories of that time. It was only (!) 25 or so years ago now, but I imagine that particular song isn’t sung much in schools anymore. The stuff about “pilgrims’ pride” just wouldn’t be considered appropriate, would it? *sigh*

    Thanks again for a beutifully written and insightful blog, and sorry for the lengthy comment!

  8. I’m not sheepish, so I’ll just say what I feel. God bless America. If I care more about what other people think than expressing my true feelings, I’ll be PC, and may as well say nothing.

    Anyway, I really liked your article. You captured the essence of how most of us felt on 9/11, vulnerable. Before that day, I felt like America was an invulnerable juggernaut, and that’s why I think so much of the world compared us to nazi Germany. I don’t think it had as much to do with the pride our people have in our nation or flag.

    I’m personally more afraid of Wal-mart than any other anti-US force atm though. Maybe my blog for tommorrow will be about that. 😉

    Keep up the great work madame. This is the first blog of yours I have read.

  9. Will shouting tom accuse me of being sledge-hammered into patriotism if I say something positive about the flag?? Maybe he’s been summoned back to domestic violence court, it might be safe.

  10. Excellent post. Again you describe my feelings and views very accurately. It took me several years to stop saying goodbye to the Chicago skyline every time I saw it. I still believe it’s extremely vulnerable, but I don’t have that same feeling that it’s about to be destroyed soon.

    I have a little flag pin that I’ve considered wearing, but I feel reluctant to do so. I’m not sure why. I’m always happy to see someone else wearing a flag pin or driving a car or truck with a flag decal.

    It’s hard making that transition from sophisticated liberal to serious patriotic conservative, isn’t it?

  11. For all the criticism the US gets for ostentatious displays of national pride, especially from Europe, it’s actually most European nations who have the problem with nationalism in its ugliest form. The National Democratic Party in Germany, the National Front in Frace– in those countries, these are mainstream parties with a substantial minority following. (Le Pen of the National Front was in a runoff against Chirac, for god’s sake. *Mussolini’s* granddaughter is a major player in Italian politics.) These people go way beyond waving the flag– they promote outright hostility to foreigners and immigrants, and love of country based not on common affiliation to common ideals (that’d be us), but affiliation based on bloodline and birth. With that, they win some 5%-18% of the popular vote. Pat Buchanan pretty much pushed the same thing here, and couldn’t even get 1%. Almost every American flag on display here is an affirmation of what we all stand for– and a rebuke to everyone in the world who on the whole, after all the rhetoric is boiled down, stand for nothing.

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