The Whole Flag Thing Got Me Thinking

I know in my heart that if I walked down the street wearing an American flag pin, people would assume that I was Republican. Furthermore, they would assume that I was a conservative Republican.

For the record, I am neither.

How did this happen? Did we Democrats send a memo out at some point ceding the patriotic territory to the guys (and yes, they are almost all guys) on the other side of the aisle?

I know the Republicans didn't take the flag away from us Democrats. They couldn't. The flag belongs to all of us. So the only explanation is that we gave it away.

It can be so frustrating to be a Democrat. So what if we are right? If we are not smart, being right doesn't mean a hill of beans.

So, here's my idea. Now Senator Obama didn't heed my last suggestion -- to go public with his top 3-5 VP picks, but I'm just going to keep coming up with the big ideas, hoping someone might take me up on one of them.

Here goes.

It's time for Democrats to reclaim the mantle of patriotism. But our current form of American democracy seems to have made some wrong turns on this American journey of ours. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that this country was to be the beacon of freedom, of diversity. Our country's founding fathers were brilliant and compassionate. Consider the words of the Constitution that ABC ran before commercial breaks during last night's debate (the only smart thing they did all night) (although it further emphasized how small Gibson and Stephanopoulous were).

Barack, how about making a statement? Consider wearing an American flag pin beginning today and until you take the oath of office on January 20, 2009.

Return to our roots. Wear an American flag. The original American flag. The Betsy Ross version. The one James Madison wore as he was writing the Constitution.

It's time to remind people what this country stands for. Or what it stood for and needs to stand for once more.