Waving and Stomping, A Grand Old Flag

All right, Americans. You United Statesers, you. I’m getting tired of all this flag crap. It’s nonsense and for my money, it’s un-American. I do not pledge allegiance to a flag. A flag is a piece of cloth or plastic with colors on it. It is nothing. I do not swear allegiance to all things USA. If you take a piece of filth and write America on it, I’m not going to worship it. Any veterans who fought for the purpose of protecting the flag is misguided and does not represent me.

What I do pledge allegiance to is ideas. The ideas that were brought forth in the founding of the United States. Ideas of freedom and equality that we as a people have continued to refine for the last 140 years or so. Veterans who fought and supported the effort to preserve freedom and protect the freedom and safety of the citizens of the United States and other around the world who needed a helping hand do represent me. You don’t fight for a flag, you fight for freedom, ideas, and people.

The people who founded this country were those who believed they had the right and freedom to take down the British flag and stomp on it. To demand something better. People had a right to speak and express themselves however they see fit. When one becomes dissatisfied with the government, it is not only their right, but their duty to express their dissatisfaction. Stomping or doing whatever else to the flag is an expression of that American idea that we have the right to criticize our own nation.

All you “patriots” who believe someone should be fined, incarcerated, or physically harmed for desecrating a flag are in direct opposition to the freedom that the USA is supposed to represent. Stomping a flag is American. Stopping them is tyranny, the very thing that all these veterans fought against. The United States is supposed to be a government of the people and was literally founded on the idea that the people are allowed to voice their dissatisfaction.

So, wave your flag, stomp your flag, take a crap on it, or whatever. Express yourself any way you wish. But do not stifle free speech. But make sure you do it to your own flag or obtain permission. Do not destroy someone else’s property. And, for pete’s sake, do not be surprised or offended if, in the United States, a United States flag is displayed in a public area. This is the United State. For real. The flag totally belongs there.