My father spent more than a quarter century on active duty in the United States Navy, beginning in the last year of World War II, and ending in 1973. Proud of his service, fiercely loyal to the Navy and the country, most of his closest friends served in the military. Recently he and my mother moved to a retirement home in Northern Virginia originally begun by retired Air Force officers. He occasionally wears his Navy wings (he was a pilot for most of his service), but I've never seen him wear a flag lapel pin. I saw him in uniform regularly for decades, and often in his dress whites, so I've seen his many ribbons and medals--never a flag pin.
So I asked him whether he saw a lot of flag lapel pins at his retirement home, where most of the residents are Republicans. (He's not, I'm delighted to say; both he and my mother, who just turned 80--he's 84--voted for Barack Obama in the Virginia primary.) He said he sees very few of these pins. "Why do you think that is?" I asked him a couple of weeks ago. Well, he answered, when you've served your country for an entire career, you don't feel the need to announce your patriotism publicly. "I don't know about the others," he continued, "but I sure don't."
How interesting that TV anchors who've never served in the military think it's critical for politicians to announce their patriotism on their lapels. How interesting that politicians who've never served in the military, and wouldn't think of doing so, and wouldn't want their children to do so, think it's so important to announce their patriotism with a piece of lapel jewelry. When Vice President Cheney puts on that pin, be sure to ask him about his service to his country, back when it might have cost him something. The Vice President had "other priorities" during the Vietnam era, when we worried every year that my father would receive orders to Vietnam. (We all got lucky--he didn't.)
Jewelry doesn't equate to patriotism--in fact, it's a shoddy substitute for the real thing. Ask my old man.
What it is is a shorthand way of saying that Obama isn't 'one of us'.
My father, relatives and friends who served this country in the same time period as your father, all returned from WWII knowing what they fought for. And didn't or wouldn't allow any group to tell them a lapel pin or any other symbol was proof of their patriotism. They would also tell you there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism.
Nationalism can become a very dangerous road to travel. Buttons, pins and armbands led to the very thing our fathers and fellow patriots fought to protect us from. Along with the tyrants that are birthed from this ideology.
Now these neo chicken hawk whatever they are, think they can insult the true defenders of our nation into believing they are not true Americans without a pin.
I smell a line of CRAP!!! Or is that gunpowder?
Joanna: You know what, Stan, if you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don't you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: Well, I thought I remembered you saying that you wanted to express yourself.
Joanna: Yeah. You know what, yeah, I do. I do want to express myself, okay. And I don't need 37 pieces of flair to do it.
[flips off Stan]
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.
Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...
"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."
Wonder if the obsession that chicken hawks have with lapel pins is anything like the need some men have for bright red sports cars....
But can you name one of those "TV anchors" who think it's "critical for politicians to announce their patriotism on their lapels." I doubt that any have done so. Merely commenting that Obama has been criticized for not wearing a flag lapel pin does not equate to thinking it's critical to do so.