Bill Moyers on reclaiming the Stars and Stripes -- <font size = "4">The Drunks Bar </font size "4">

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Date Posted: 17:45:54 03/01/03 Sat
Author: Sister Regina Dentata
Subject: Bill Moyers on reclaiming the Stars and Stripes

I caught this on TV last night, and he has point. Isn't it funny that the people that sneered at red ribbons in the 1990s are now giving the gimlet eye to anyone w/o a flag pin? Actually, I think a better idea would be to start wearin pins with the Statue of Liberty on them as a sign of "I love my country, so help me give the boot to the yahoos that hijacked it." Not for its iconic American significance, but for the possblity of seeing ranting beet-faced commentators on Faux News screaming about how "You can tell who really HATES America! Those Commies with THE STATUE OF LIBERTY on their lapels!"

As Transcibed by Buzzflash

Bill Moyers on Patriotism and the Flag

BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Bill Moyers

I put the flag in my lapel 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 our 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 returns on April 15.

So what's this flag doing here? Well, I put it on to take it back. The flag's been hijacked and turned into a logo -- the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism. On those Sunday morning talk shows, official chests appear adorned with the flag as if it is the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. And during the State of the Union, did you notice Bush and Cheney wearing the flag? How come? No administration's patriotism is ever in doubt, only its policies. And the flag bestows no immunity from error. 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 in their lapels while writing books and running Web sites and publishing magazines 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 in 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 diplomatic skill. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country.

What do you think?

-Bill Moyers
NOW with Bill Moyers

BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

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Replies:

Let's go for the whole shebang and reclaim the Constitution as well... (NT) -- Jay Hovah, 09:32:44 03/03/03 Mon