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

[gage]

Sorry, Paul. Senator Hart asked the people here to do the same thing a couple of weeks ago, and all he got was a bunch of comments about only wearing the flag if it has a some sort of disclaimer attached to it.

Obama supporters in general just don't get it, and there's no use trying to explain this "flag" concept to them.

I personally don't care who displays a flag pin or sticker, but it's amusing to read the thoughts of the leftists who are horrified by the very concept.

[HumeSkeptic]

I recommend flag pins for all my Arab American friends, as a deterrent to racial profiling.

.

[lainey]

The same can be said for my Jewish and Israeli friends. They are treated poorly by the other side. The greatness of America is that we are Americans first. If wearing a flag pin bothers you, than that is concern. Maybe there is a better place for you to live...

[lainey]

Hume, you are a man of many contradictions. One second you are mad at Obama, the next, we can't live without him. It amazes why you expect so much of Obama and so little of yourself. Singling out Arab Americans indicates that they are the only ones who are targets of racial profiling and that is simply not the case. If your intention is stick up for those oppressed, you must understand that there are many. That was such an easy place to go. Took the simple way out again. You fell--hook, line and sinker.

[HumeSkeptic]

Indeed, if your Jewish and Israeli friends have been subjected to racial profiling, I stand with them against those doing racial profiling.

The greatness of America is that we can have different views and opinions, without someone telling you to leave the country simply because of a difference in opinion, as you just did, thus denigrating America.

[LafourmiRouge]

I am totally supportive of flag pins. BIG ONES! I am sure that some enterprising person could make a fortune between now and Election Day providing XXL flag pins to Joe Public.

Then we could stop this stupid argument about who is wearing a flag pin and who is not!

As always, Size Matters.

[provgrays]

The bigger the flag, the smaller the brain.

[GiannaX]

To question Barack's patriotism is unpatriotic.

Namaste,
Gianna Hussein X

[grapesofmath]

I love this! It has been painful...looking at the flag and feeling left out, or better still, shut out by the administration....feeling as though displaying the flag were a political statement.
We all remember how after 9/11, the nation was blanketed with flags.
You couldn't order a grilled cheese without a US flag stuck into it. At the moment we were deluged by US flag imagery, to where it began to feel like it might one day lose it's meaning, the hard, far-right co-opted the US flag and tried to shape it into something overtly political.
This is a wonderful way to reassert our love for our nation.

[Titonwan]

I think the flag pin I would wear would be a flag of Iraq. Before the invasion flag design. In remembrance of the hundreds of thousands dead over a zealot dictator we have as POTUS. Our troops didn't die for their country! They died for George W. Bush. And I will read a book- "The prosecution of George W. Bush" by Vincent Bugliosi. I can't think of a more fitting 4th than to remember the troops who bravely laid down their lives and limbs for the biggest psychopath to ever slime the White House. Next year I plan on attending the actual prosecution and the death sentence they will hopefully rule. Now that's patriotism.

[SiberianRat]

Yep!!!

[Smirk]

Hmmm, the right used to chime "better dead than red," but now they support an administration that uses the "enhanced interrogation tactics" Chinese communists used on American soldiers during the Korean war, only back then, the US called it torture. My father was a marine in Korea. He would be horrified. But what the hell--"My county right or wrong! Simper fi, dude!" Yep. That's true patriotism. Say nothing when the government betrays the country, its people, and its ideals. With that sort of "patriotism," the USA doesn't need enemies.

[wadenelson1]

It's the same in every war. Pro-war zealots wave the flag and call everyone else unpatriotic.

Maybe you're too young to remember.

[suntzu]

Can anyone tell me where I can buy a flag pin that is actually made in the USA?

[Smirk]

There must be some somewhere, but I've never found them. Every one I've encountered was made in China.

[BlueOnBlue]

Try searching ebay for "Obama flag pin."

[Berettasskeeter]

Sorry, its too late! Only the permanently disabled will be fooled. The Left hates the America envisioned by our Founders and reveres the failing Socialist/Communist States of the world. We won't be fooled!
Semper fi

[GrainOSand]

What does the right do pray tell?

[HumeSkeptic]

This must have been posted in the early 1960s.

[SiberianRat]

Those "failing Socialist/Communist States" are doing far better than we are--read a newspaper (non-tabloid), or better yet, visit one and see what your programmed idea of failure really looks like.

[sowhatdemos]

The left does not hate America. We hate that the thugs/thieves that took power illegally are stealing our country blind. Stealing the wealth, ruining the environment, breaking the military so their oil buddies can rape this country and Iraq (what's left of it) and using brutal torture.
The only disabled I see are the GWB fools that hide their heads in the sand.

[Grannyover70]

This conversation about a Flag Pin is the most idiotic "turning a molehile into a mountain" I have ever seen. Or, how about "straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel?" How many years did this country exist without benefit of a cheap pin made in China to prove someone's patriotism? I have news for you, patriotism has a heck of a lot more meaning than sticking a pin on your jacket. If I were a Terrorist, the first thing I would do is go out and buy a US Flag Pin. Evidently it would fool 95% of the population.