Flag hags

Whether or not you support Obama as your candidate, you have to respect his response to the Great Flag Pin Non-Issue:

Far more notable is Barack Obama's response to these depressingly familiar attacks. In response, he's not scurrying around slapping flags all over himself or belting out the National Anthem, nor is he apologizing for not wearing lapels, nor is he defensively trying to prove that -- just like his Republican accusers -- he, too, is a patriot, honestly. He's not on the defensive at all.

Finally. It's not just years, but decades overdue for a prominent political leader to take exactly this stand.

One day during my high school years, I chose not to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. A daily compulsion to demonstrate my patriotism seemed wrong on the face of it. My fidelity to the United States, the republic for which the flag stands, should be assumed. The next day, I made the same choice. And you can guess what happened next.

The school was very uncomfortable with my stance. In only a day or two, nearly all my classmates and teachers knew I was the guy who wouldn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Because they had to enforce pledge-making every morning, teachers had, by and large, a bigger problem with my stance than my fellow students.

The more that people showed their discomfort with the exercise of my liberties, the more I dug in my heels. The situation escalated to the level where the principal felt he should have a talk with me. To his credit, the principal tried to persuade instead of threaten me.

Once it became clear that I wasn't driving other students to join the Communist Party, and the angry fist of God wasn't going to descend on our school, the controversy subsided--at which point, on a regular basis, I started saying the Pledge again.

My concerns about flag fetishism continue, however. Clearly, there are unscrupulous people who use the flag as a club against their political opponents. The non-existent flag burning crisis bullied its way onto political stage during every major election in which I've voted. There's only thing more appalling than the transparent cynicism behind these anti-flag burning campaigns: the non-response on the other side.

Rather than duck silly questions about the flag, political leaders of any real merit should face them head on. They're the easiest questions of principle to answer:

I choose whether or not to wear a flag pin. That choice is my right. That choice is what makes this country great. Your concern is, perhaps, better directed towards someone who wants to remove that choice.

I love the United States. A few weeks ago, when my daughter and I were driving around Washington, DC, I felt my heart skip a beat when we passed the the Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian, and the Washington Monument. Nobody can force you to have that feeling--and no one should ever try.

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