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I pledge allegiance to...what, exactly?
Author: TriSec    Date: 06/30/2018 09:51:49

Good Morning.
Well, this past Monday morning, I took down my US flag for a while. I’ve been flying the ol’ Stars and Stripes since about 2008. Although I prefer the Bennington Flag, I cycle through the standard 50-star flag, Bennington, and Betsy Ross.

Back on June 14, I did put up my Betsy Ross in honor of Flag day, but I took it down over the past weekend due to some storms that were brewing. I have a nice setup; my flags are under cover, and are backlit by the porch light, so when it’s up, it’s up until weather compels me to take it down.

Or politics.


During the Bush “administration”, as things started their long downhill slide, I began to have a vague uneasiness reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every week at my Scout meetings. But being a good leader, I sucked it up and did what I was supposed to, and in turn instructed my young charges in the art of Patriotic duty as best as I could.

But in my own home, I was disgusted, and eventually stopped flying the Stars and Stripes altogether.

Fortunately, we have a large number of historical flags to choose from. While the Gadsden Flag has long been associated with protests, I have a long aversion to the colour yellow, so I never liked that one. Never mind that the Tea Party hijacked it for all the wrong reasons – seeing that coiled yellow snake still sets me off to this day.

Nay, I had long preferred the Culpeper Minuteman flag. It offers the same sentiment as the Gadsden, but it also bears the sobriquet “Liberty or Death”. No less historic than any Minuteman company here in New England, those men in Culpeper, Virginia based themselves on our methods, and carried the fight to King George just as well as we did.
So this past Monday, I neatly folded up my Red, White, and Blue flags and dug out my Minuteman flag once again. It’s been flying from my porch all week.

But why has it come to this? I’m afraid the Stars and Stripes no longer represents the things I believe in. If I’m pledging allegiance to a flag, shouldn’t I intend to honor and uphold that pledge? At this time, I do not. It’s at the point where I’m glad I’m not running a Cub Scout pack anymore. I think I’d be hard-pressed to force those kids to recite the Pledge, when I have no intention of doing it myself anymore.

That’s not the only thing, though. Old Glory has become so objectified and fetishized that we see things like this during every over-the-top patriotic display at many sporting events.

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-70c900f5ad8033f552b2a38f052bc187-c


https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--1isIF02Y--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/zzypmujoegofwxs2rukr.jpg


http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4069/4692824843_610b79f2ba.jpg


It matters not how disrespectful these things actually are – all that matters is that damn red, white, and blue that is wrapped around you.

Even so, that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the new “Patriotic Pornography”. When I see things like this, mere contempt doesn’t even begin to fill the bill.

https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/nsm.jpg


The concept of associating the Stars and Stripes with fascism is so alien to me, I can’t even begin to comprehend what is going on there. To change gears slightly, Javier has summer assignments for his AP History class, and among them are watching and reporting on several approved WWII movies. A few nights back, he watched Saving Private Ryan, and I told him the stories about his two great-uncles that were there. While my family members lived to fight another day, many thousands of Americans did not. Why was their blood spilled on the Normandy shore?

So yes, I refuse to fly the Stars and Stripes for now. The United States is very clearly dying, and I’m afraid I can’t celebrate that death. I’ve watched many relatives take that long, slow, slide into night as we all have, and it’s easy to recognize the symptoms. While there is still hope, it appears that the patient is planning on refusing all treatment.



 
 

1 comments (Latest Comment: 06/30/2018 21:22:05 by Will in Chicago)
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Comment by Will in Chicago on 06/30/2018 21:22:05
I hope that we will see a rebirth of our nation.

I joined about 300 in a protest at the Hammond Federal building this morning, focusing on the issue of immigration.