Second Thoughts on Old Glory
Time to lay the nation-state to rest
by Brian Wright

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Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
— John Lennon

I think, in America, anyway, yes. The bad guys have stolen the symbol that used to mean liberty and constitutional government, and they use it to justify the most heinous crimes... inside our country and out.

What brought on the second take...

A friend of mine from the periphery of the Libertarian Party of Michigan of past years, just call him Ralph Bombeck, resurfaced a month ago... or more like I resurfaced in his radar screen. Anyway, we reconnected in cyberville, and he seems to be a "forwarder"—not the chain letter sort, but sending out emails from right-wing, low-brow demagogue types who demonize immigrants, gays, atheists, and other 'aliens.' The hot issue seemed to be Moveon.org's alleged desire to ban the flag in schools.[1]

"Fox is running a poll about whether the flag should be banned in schools in order not to inflame Hispanic students. The poll is being sandbagged by SEIU and we should mount a counter action if you agree with me that the flag should be taken down for no one. Moveon.org, funded by George Soros, Organizing for America, and SEIU, (Service Employee International UNION), have been twittering today to go to Fox Poll and vote to BAN the Flag and right now it is still working (21%). VOTE... and then pass it along! I say, inflame the little bastards, make them learn English, salute the flag and demand that they take an oath of allegiance... OR GET THE HELL OUT!!! I am sick and tired of Soros, his Democratic friends, and other Progressives..."

I mulled the message over a minute, then asked myself what the American flag has come to mean to me. The answer, which surprised me, on an emotional level, is reflected in my core dump response to the message.

RB,

Not a big fan of the flag.

I'd consider the 13-star or Don't Tread on Me, but tell me what the current flag represents? Is it the American state?

Then with 9/11, the false wars, the genocide, the mass detentions, the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the dispossession of millions, the routinely massive torture and renditions—all directed from the highest levels of the American state and military and security apparatus—, the welfare state, the seizure of persons and property by the feds (IRS and DHS and all the rest sitting in the wings of Police State Nirvana), the invasions of home and privacy, the SWAT teams, the Drug War, the Big Pharma War (against the people), the Big Agra War, the Food, Inc. War, the Prosecutocracy, the transfer of $trillions to the Banksters... don't get me started.

Anyway, if all that I'm citing represents the average behavior of the modern American central state—and it surely does—and if the flag represents that, then forgive me for not being a big fan of the flag.

Or does the flag represent the American people? Which people? The same people in government who are committing all these crimes against humanity? Or the victims of those people in government? Usually, the people committing criminal government behavior point to the American flag for their justification. Usually the victims of government are pointed to as terrorists or "aliens" or scum of the earth, when all these people are trying to do is survive and feed their families.

Did the people committing or tolerating government crimes steal the true meaning of the flag, which is liberty? Well, okay. But around the world the flag is known by the company it keeps, and right now the overwhelming majority of behavior conducted under auspices of the flag is grossly criminal and genocidal. Just ask the Iraqi victims of the illegal, immoral American-government aggression over there. One million dead, five million refugees, tens of thousands massacred by the American military, tens of thousands wrongly imprisoned and tortured per OFFICIAL US GOVERNMENT POLICY!

The flag has come to represent the antithesis of freedom and to pass off aggressions of the highest magnitude. So the bad guys stole a good symbol, perhaps. I think we must accept that the bad guys have removed any libertarian meaning from the flag, concede that anything good about the symbol of the flag no longer applies, and probably has not applied since about 1789...

Thinking about the current American flag makes me want to throw up and cry rivers for the evils inflicted by this horrific government and its cronies in the name of "me." In fact, I don't like seeing military or police uniforms either. Police and armed services are general threats to liberty—with the exception of Oath Keepers.

Sorry, that's simply how I feel.
If the American government ever does anything to restore freedom, perhaps my feelings will change. If we as a people insist that the government investigate war crimes, stop all the corporate-state wars against humanity, just do one decent thing, I may change my mind. Don't hold your breath.

I do think the American flag should be required in the government schools, however, as a symbol for statism and war and torture and everything most normal people are against. Make it a target, so when the people overthrow the government who keeps pointing to this fig leaf for all manner of their highest crimes and felonies, the people will have something to remember about what went wrong in what was supposed to be a free country.

Anyway, Ralph, sorry to take off on this one. But I have deeply negative feelings against the flag now, I think with good reason. If the Oligarchs win, the flag is what they'll fly when they march off libertarians like us to detention camps. The freedom movement needs a new symbol; Old Glory has become Old Gory, beyond hope...

bw

Since writing the response to my old friend, I've tried to be less emotional, consider the big picture. The more I think about flags and emblems, symbols of the nation-state—much like icons of the Church of Rome, the Third Reich, and other secret societies based on the Death Star—the more I feel human beings need to grow up and heed the words of John Lennon. Time for letting go of collectivism and the antihuman.

[1] This sounds like a call for Snopes help, but I'll let the reader check out the authenticity of the Moveon.org flag story. It doesn't matter for purposes of my commentary.