A Modest Proposal for the 4th: Take Back Old Glory

In Dr. Seuss's The Sneetches, there were two kinds of these odd beach-dwelling creatures -- those with stars on their bellies and those without. The ones with the stars saw themselves as inherently superior:

When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts

Or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts,

They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches.

They left them out cold, in the dark of the beaches.

Then along came a stranger, one Sylvester McMonkey McBean, who had a contraption that applied -- for a price -- stars to the bellies of the decoratively challenged:

Then they yelled at the ones who had stars at the start,

"We're exactly like you! You can't tell us apart.

We're all just the same, now, you snooty old smarties!

And now we can go to your frankfurter parties."

Then the snobby Sneetches had their stars removed -- yes, McBean's machine could do that, too -- and starlessness became the coin of the realm, after which it all descended into on-again-off-again chaos until it was impossible to keep track of who'd been who and they decided to just all get along as equals -- albeit impoverished equals, as they'd given all of their money to the con man who'd repeatedly applied and removed their stars.

But enough, for now, about Sneetches.

Of all the stupid things done by the anti-war crowd, the most gratuitously moronic was allowing the sanctimonious hypocrites of the right to co-opt the nation's most basic icon, its flag. The emblem of the country's highest aspirations was mindlessly ceded to the holier-than-thou zealots who used it as a bludgeon against the less fanatical.

Having unburdened itself of patriotism, the left proceeded over the years to also give away religion, national security and, finally, the elections themselves, but this devolution, into the pathetic puddle of unprincipled, acquiescent wimpiness that the Democrats have become, started with -- or rather, without -- the flag. It's hard to remember a presidential election in which that cavalier surrender hasn't exacted a serious price.

Eventually the lapel was established as the battlefield, and the degree of one's patriotic fervor is now presumed based on whether or not said lapel sports a flag pin. The flag pin wearer clearly loves his country -- for Christ's sake, he's wearing its flag! -- and as for the flagless, well, one can only wonder why they hate America so much that they won't allow its proudest symbol on their persons.

Republicans love to demagogue the flag, and this year that and fear-mongering are all they have. The presence or absence of the mini-Stars 'N' Stripes has the potential to erupt into a weeks-long October distraction, with the contemptible castrata of the media not just providing the stage but also trilling in the chorus. But we can prevent it, and so easily that there's really no excuse not to.

All of the conventional political wisdom of decades is mere rubble in the wake of the Bush-Cheney catastrophes. Whether or not they have health insurance or can afford the gas to drive to their jobs is more important to many past "values" voters than whether or not homosexual couples can call their unions "marriage." Significant numbers of previously intolerant evangelicals are now focusing on saving the earth instead of merely hating hordes of its occupants. Formerly dark red states are purple and may well turn blue. The right is reeling, they can't find a single thing to point to that's better than it was before Bush, so while they're busy dealing with issues of basic survival, let's just slip in there and take back the damn flag. Take it back from the war criminals and their apologists and enablers that have wrapped themselves in it even as they've been methodically destroying the republic for which it stands.

Barack Obama, who earlier took some flack for his empty lapel, is on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone with flag pin gleaming. We should follow his lead. Everyone who's voting for Obama -- and especially those who are public figures (i.e. Keith Olbermann, Jack Cafferty, Rachel Maddow) must immediately procure a flag pin and not be seen without it before November 5th. If you can't do it with pride, do it as an act of subversion.

When everyone's wearing the flag it will be neutralized. It will cease to provide cover, and then all those with a need to display their moral superiority will have to find a new symbol to set them apart. A new image to mount on a pin and attach to fabric that says, "I am, in my essence, better than you."

I suggest the Star-Belly Sneetch.

Comments

[thewildlunch]

Yeah ... I have to agree with this "modest proposal." Rather than ignoring the flag, it would be more effective to present the flag as an icon of the true spirit of democracy, as was utilized effectively in the 60s with movies like "Easy Rider" and Dennis Hopper's Captain America persona.

I'd also say that the left desperately needs to reclaim the term "democracy" from the right. As in, what the left stands for is a "democratization of democracy" (to borrow a phrase from French philosopher Etienne Balibar). Rhetorically, the language of socialism/communism won't cut it in America in 2008 - but democracy most certainly will. Not that anyone is talking about socialism or communism in America at all anymore.

So, the word is democracy, and the image is the flag, but the movement is anti-corporate and anti-military. It is pro-rural farmers, pro-South, pro-North and pro-West, pro-urban workers, pro-women, pro-gays, pro-African Americans, pro-immigrant, and so on and so forth.

[Artos]

Have you ever wondered why Republicans are so offended by flag burning and consider it a desecration and yet they make basketballs, underwear and a host of other useless objects with flags on them. These thing touch the ground every day. Flag underwear is desecrated in a way I won't mention and yet these objects by law should have to be burned. Why do they not complain about these desecrations if the Flag is so sacred to them? Eh

[pcplz]

Please find me a flag or a flag pin that has been made in the USA.......­.? Can't seem to find one.

[pcplz]

I want to say that it really bothers me to see flags put on pickup trucks and driven around in all sorts of weather.

It used to be that when you saw flags on a vehicle it meant some government official was being taken some place. Now it is ragged and wet and sometimes mud splattered as it sits on personal vehicles.

Where is the pride in that. I used to honor our flag but am damned sure not gonna salute a bikini or a wife beater top on a biker.

I would really like to see Old Glory restored and honored the way it once was....our forefathers would be very angry to see what we have done to it and what it has become.

[sushi27]

http://www.unionlabel.com/us-flag-lapel-pin.html

http://gthatsnice.com/flagpin.html

[Artos]

pcplz, The reason you can't find them is because every day hosts of Republicans go out and buy them all and hoard them. They also know that by making them all disappear, Democrats can't get them to wear, thereby giving Republicans yet another issue to beat Democrats up about.

[dawlishgal]

If one is going to wear a flag pin, one better wear an Obama button beside it. Because ifs you don't, you will certainly be mistaken for one of them, the exploiters of the flag, the ones who justify killing hundreds of thousands of civilians of a country that did nothing to us in the name of that flag.

How long has it been since you saw a lapel with a flag pin and didn't immediately think that the wearer is a jerk and a bully?

For gawdssakes, these people think nothing of eating a cake decorated exactly like a flag and passing it trrough their stomachs and back out. But, of course, they advocate draconian punishment for people to desecrate flags in other ways than eating them. The flag wearers are bullies (or decent people who have allowed themselves to be exploited by bullies...­when it comes to Republicans that distinction is pretty much meaningless). So, if you wear the pin, better do all you can to differentiate yourself.

[chrisincalif]

As part of the "anti-war crowd" since Vietnam, I'd like to point out that I have *always* attached a large flag to the top of my anti-war sign. That's the real flag, not some altered version with a peace sign or something. For years, my friends and I have encouraged everyone in earshot to take back the flag. Every anti-war march will have a hundred pro-war people at the sides, intending to wave "their" flag in our faces, as if we hate it. You should see their confused shock when they see us carrying our flags proudly high, and smile at them. We have been the few. I hope everyone who attends any anti-war march or any other protest will proudly carry our flag as well. Protecting what it stands for is why we are all there.

On another note ~ I'd love to see writers like you, Mr. Slansky, point out the difference between patriotism and jingoism. The word jingo is well known most places outside America, and regularly used in British papers. Believe it or not, I used "jingo" when speaking to a pretty smart, albeit small-c conservative friend, a very nice guy, but he actually accused me of making the word up! He had never heard it. Americans would do well to learn what jingo means, in order to separate it from the patriotic. What do you think? Can you write an article on it, please?

[Artos]

I know what jingoism is, it's what I meant earlier by insincerity. I means that as a business man, you use the flag as a means to have a "4th of July" Sale, or a "Memorial day" Sale, etc. These folks pervert the true sense of everything that they take control of. It means that as a Congressman you can hoodwink average folks into believing that you are their man, all the while you are helping your cohorts in the Corporations send their jobs to some 3rd world nation. It means that you can lie to people about being for less government and freedom all the while you steal their land through some antiquated eminent domain law. I could go on but I think you get the picture.

[chrisincalif]

I would argue that jingoism refers to our irrational support of war rather than shopping. What you have written is certainly the way so many, from retailers to politicians, work to twist and subvert our patriotic feelings, and I totally agree with your criticisms. However, the definition (from Merriam-Webster online) of "jingoism" is:

extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy

[amamomofsons]

Why Oh Why do we think that these symbols mean more than the actions we take to express our patriotism? The flag is now used as a weapon against one another much like the symbols of the past that we are trying to rid the world of. I know you all can think of hateful symbols from the past that put neighbor against neighbor. After this administration took office, I had a huge urge to fly my flag with a thick black ribbon around the middle as if to squeeze the living breath out of us, the people. We are America not the symbols. We need to show our patriotism by doing something to better our communities and by challenging our government when they are proven to be corrupt and sinister. This nation is the greatest in the history of mankind and to place such a shallow value on it like a flag and walk lock step behind it, degrades it's meaning.

[Artos]

Flags and symbols were used to persecute people in Nazi Germany. In those times if you didn't fly your nazi emblems or wear them, your patriotism was questioned, and the consequences could often lead to a concentration camp or worse yet death.

[protagonia]

Those sorts exist here as well.

Fly the flag in resistance to them.

[cowboyneok]

I suggest one-upmanship. Instead of wearing a flag lapel pin, I believe those of us on the progressive left should wear U.S. Constitution lapel pins. We can say we love our constitution more than the flag, because the flag is a mere representation of our beloved U.S. Constitution.

[heywhat]

To say "if you can't do it with pride, do it as an act of subversion" is as demeaning as those who say that you can't be a patriot or love your country if you don't wear a flag pin in your lapel. Comments like that are one of the many reasons Dems are viewed with such suspicion by many who should be our allies. Why is it that this "transformational" campaign so often sounds as mean spirited and condescending as the other guys do? I can't believe in a transformational leader when so many of his followers remain untransformed.

http://strictlyanecdotal.com

[protagonia]

So then you will not fly the flag?

I as a Progressive agree with your right to do as you please. I disagree with you, and will act upon that.

Transformational campaigns scare some folks. Change is terrifying to fear based people. It's sad to see. But change comes anyway.

I fly my flag with pride. I suggest the same to ALL Americans. Just a suggestion, not anything more.

God bless America!

[avraamjack]

.
There are things that are better than they were eight years ago.
.
The oil companies are richer, as are their stockholders.
.
The top several percent of the population , by income, is much better off.
.
So there.
.

[kizzie]

In my humble opinion, Obama is not who he tried make us think he was. I'm having serious doubts as to what we are getting ourselves in to if this is just the beginning for what is to come.
Thank the man for the pin that was given to him, and tell America you will not forget to honor our troops, and wear it for the day, but to give in to the hard core Right is submissive to the max. And FISA---it saddens me to see him help to deteriorate our constitution, of which the majority of us want want to see brought back tot his counrty that has been so sorely stripped away by this administration.
The 4th of July is supposed to be a celebration of our independence and the laws stated in the Constitution. If this continues, there will be no reason to celebrate the 4th other than a day off from work. And some people have to work today to help out consumerism from China as our jobs slip out of the country-----

[davidpeace]

The flag as symbol of America can go f*** itself! If you want a reason, how about the last seven years? Then the last 60 years before that in Central America, Vietnam, Korea..., and don't forget about the Philippines at the turn of the last century, the thefts from Mexico, the thefts from the Native Americans, slavery and all those other times and places where the flag was held up as a symbol of the "righteousness" of America. Lately, hardly a day goes by that I don't learn something new to be ashamed of being an American about. I will not be celebrating the 4th. If I had a flag I would burn it in rage on behalf of all the nations/peoples that the US has screwed over since before its inception. The "Nation" that we were taught about in school, and presumably is still being taught, has never existed. If you doubt that, ask a south Asian immigrant, an African-American descendant of a slave, or just about any person that isn't descended from white, western Europe.

[Durango]

You need to separate the PROMISE of America from the reality.

It is the Promise that we should celebrate. And need to make it the truth of America.

[Artos]

DavidPeace,

While I can agree with you on many counts about the things you list, there are at least three wars I could say were justifiable. The Revolutionary war, the Civil War, and WWII. At least in most ways these wars were unavoidable. As for how America came to exist, yes we did steal it away through conquest, but then what lands throughout the world weren't conquested from some other people. It may not be justifiable to our present sensibilities, but it was the way of the world in past times. What we should have done given our supposed ideals is to do our very best to make some sort of restitution or apology to those who were done wrong by that past. It doesn't sit well with Republicans though and that is why they hate Liberal learning institutions. They hate what they refer to as "Revisionist History" being taught in these establishments. The truth hurts and they want to live believing in their 'Sainthood', regardless of how false it is. They certainly don't live up to it and contrary to what they think, no one is fooled by it.

[kizzie]

And all those little flag pins are made in China---how much more American or patriotic can you get?!
We should be howling in the streets for what our country has become and quit this "flag pin "stuff. If we're so proud and so great, why do we let our fellow man lose their jobs for corporational greed rather than supporting the very basis and independence we are supposed to stand for..... sad day in America.
We should be wearing the flag of China---they own us right down to our rebate checks!

[davedave]

if the flag and the constitution were both burning on opposite sides of a room, you have only one glass of water, which fire would you put out?

i know about the 50 stars, the 13 stripes, the red white and blue. i'd have no trouble reconstituting a facsimile flag in under an hour. the other, the constitution, i'd have a hell of time recreating.

the irony is that the flag is in no danger at all while the constitution has been under attack for the last seven years....

symbols are important, but our nation is more than a symbol. betsy ross was probably a great designer and a cool lady but we are more than a flag.

d

[coolmama4obama]

What a great comment!! And you are right about the constitution being under attack these last 7 years, while the flag has just continued to be a symbol. And we are definitely more than Betsy's cool flag design!!

[gcalknet]

The Constitution has been under attack since the days of FDR, by liberals leftists, the ACLU, and Democrats.

[protagonia]

gcalknet

The Constitution has been under attack since the days of FDR, by liberals leftists, the ACLU, and Democrats.
----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­--------

Were you to learn that virtually ALL your intel was wrong, would your pride permit you to be capable of -

A: Admitting you were duped, virtually from birth? That the radio and TV sources you'd have been using have been a string deceptions to turn you on your fellow man?

B: Changing your view of the nation and the world?

C: Undoing some of the harm you unintentionally caused?

Here's an example: I was a big Bill Clinton fan. Then, I learned more about NAFTA. I was very embarrassed that my "Hero" sold the American middle class worker down the river to outsource the jobs. I gathered myself and admitted the mistake. Now, I have a more cautious eye for ALL politicians.

And that's how it works.

Up to it?

[appleknocker]

I'm trying to find a Canadian maple-leaf pin.

[jackwaddington]

It's patriotism that is the problem. We are one creature on one planet and subdividing ourselves into American and the rest is crazy. Anyone born on the continent of America is American (North, South & Central) and a bit of colored rag on a stick denotes symbolic stupidity. We are one creature; let's stop the differentiating and co-operate with one another..

[Galt907]

"When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." Sinclair Lewis

[protagonia]

Also, take the cross back too!