If you’re old enough to remember the violent protests of the Vietnam War era, you probably remember the ideological battle over car bumpers.
People who supported the war placed bumper stickers on their cars reading “America: Love it or leave it.” Those who opposed the war responded, “America: Change it or lose it.”
“Patriotism” means many things to many people. But one thing should be obvious to anyone who is a citizen of this country: no political party has it guaranteed.
For Republicans, that should have been made uncomfortably clear at last week’s Democratic National Convention, when the traditionally ruthless cat party became a party. flag raising, “Born in the USA”. unicellular organism.
“To everyone here and everyone watching, I want you to be proud of your patriotism,” he said. Michigan Representative Elissa Slotkina former CIA agent who served in Iraq. “You are here because you love your country. Don’t give an inch to candidates who wrap themselves in the flag, but spit on the freedoms it represents.”
Wrapping yourself in a flag is often a metaphor. Former President Trump literally takes it from the post.
The patriotism of the Democrats embraces the Republicans, who have always tried to claim the flag and freedom as their own.
“I find these American flags a little shocking,” said the CNN political analyst (and Times contributor). Scott Jenningsa former aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who rarely misses an opportunity to insult Democrats. “Normally you burn these things down, but tonight you’re going to hit them.”
Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal was also outraged by what happened at the Democratic National Committee. “They stole traditional Republican themes (faith, patriotism) and made them their own.” He wroteeven when he admitted that Springsteen’s singing made him cry.
Republicans have abandoned the values they traditionally held. In the past, the Republican Party could be identified by its commitment to a strong national defense, free-market capitalism, low taxes and limited government.
It is now the party of Trump, the party of all the narcissistic whims the former president is currently engaging in. This necessarily means that Republicans do not have a stable ideology.
For example, Trump appointed three ultraconservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and as a candidate in 2016, he promised to sign a national abortion ban. But now that he realizes that denying women basic rights has hurt him and other Republican candidates politically… came out from behind.
He has criticized immigrants seeking a better life in the United States and has fueled paranoia about those crossing the southern border. But when dual immigration bill Finally dissolved last year, he demanded that Republicans withdraw their support. Why? So that he could continue to support Democrats on immigration.
Loving your country means loving it with all its flaws. But more than that, loving your country means being able to honestly deal with its history and having contradictory ideas about it: America is a country founded on freedom; and The United States is a country founded on slavery. The flag is America’s beloved symbol. and Americans have a constitutional right to burn it if they so choose.
This is what it is The Supreme Court decided in 1989. And even conservative Justice Antonin Scalia agreed. “If it were up to me, I would jail every bearded weirdo in sandals who burned an American flag.” Scalia said“But I am not the king.”
On Monday, the man who would be king incorrectly suggested that Democrats burn flags at their convention.
“They’re burning American flags all over the place and the fake news doesn’t want to show it,” Trump said. (A widely reported example was when pro-Palestinian protesters burned American and Israeli flags outside the convention.) Anyone who burned the flag should spend a year in prison, he said.
“They say, ‘Sir, it’s not constitutional,’” he said. “We’re going to make it constitutional.”
After the September 11 attacks, patriotism erupted in every corner of the United States. Flags for sale pink It was not uncommon to see it in the months following the attacks. American flags everywhere: in cars, houses, commercial buildings, construction cranes.
Even in the liberal press, Americans who abandoned the flag suddenly waved it. Leftist baby boomers who came of age during the Vietnam and civil rights era, who were skeptical of executive patriotism, embraced the flag as never before.
It was a rare moment of national unity. But soon after, President George W. Bush’s ill-advised war in Iraq shattered that sense of unity.
During President Obama’s first term in the White House, he made a decision stop hiding the flag in his shroud as a mild protest against the invasion of Iraq. The Republicans alreadychange“he were apoplectic.
“My attitude is that I care less about what’s on your lapel than what’s in your heart,” Obama said. “You demonstrate your patriotism by how you treat your fellow citizens, especially those who serve. You demonstrate your patriotism by staying true to our values and ideals.”
It was true then. It is true today. And it will be true forever.
