american flags

my girl nikki posted something about how it is trendy to sport a yellow ribbon and fake patriotism these days. it was strange because i had just read an article in the latest issue of Rolling Stone (RS 922, May 15, 2003), by Bill Moyers that was along the same lines. I've been searching for a link to it on the RS webpage, but can't find anything. So because i type fairly fast, here it is:

Reclaiming the Flag by Bill Moyers

I wore my flag tonight, first time. Until now, I haven't thought it necessary to display a little metallic icon of patriotism for everyone to see. It was enough to vote, pay my taxes, perform my civic duties, speak my mind and do my best to raise my kids to be good Americans.

Sometimes I would offer a small prayer of gratitude that I had been born in a country whose institutions sustained me, whose armed forces protected me and whose ideals inspired me; I offered my heart's affections in return. It no more occurred to me to flaunt the flag on my chest than it did to pin my mother's picture on my lapel to prove her son's love. Mother knew where I stood; so does my country. I even tuck a valentine in my tax return on April 15th.

So what's this flag doing here? Well, I put it on to take it back. The flag has been hijacked and turned into a logo -- the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism. On Sunday morning talk shows, official chest appear adorned with the flag as if it were the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. During the State of the Union address, did you notice Bush and Cheney wearing the flag? How come? No administration's patriotism is ever in question, only it's policies. When i see flags sprouting on official lapels, I think of the time in China when I saw Mao's "Little Red Book" on every official's desk, omnipresent and unread.

But more galling than anything are all those moralistic ideologues in Washington sporting the flag on their lapels while attacking dissenters as un-American. They are people whose ardor for war grows disproportionately to their distance from the fighting. They're in the same league as those swarms of corporate lobbyists wearing flags and prowling Capitol Hill for tax breaks even as they call for more spending on war.

So I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags on their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks, or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don't have to make it, or approve of bribing governments to join the coalition of the willing (after they first stash the cash). I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what Bin Laden did to us. The flag belongs to the country, not to the government. And it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war -- except in self defense -- is a failure of moral imagination, political nerve and diplomacy. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country.

Bill Moyers is the host of "Now with Bill Moyers" and has won more than thirty Emmys.

some emphasis (like everything in bold) was created by me and not the author.