Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Bill Moyers on Patriotism and the American Flag http://www.pbs.org/now/commentary/moyers19.html I wore my flag 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 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. 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 diplomacy. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country. What do you think? -- Bill Moyers 2:42:29 PM    Put your John Hancock right here!

Strengths and Weaknesses Just a quick thought that I jotted down on a reciept in my wallet a few months back: The greatest moral strength of American liberals has also been our greatest tactical weakness. That is, the tendency for self-criticism. While it strengthens our moral grounding, it can diminish our sense of rightness and purpose and sap our momentum. Conversely, an absence of self-criticism has been the American conservative's greatest tactical strength and greatest moral weakness. By never questioning their own movement, they have muscled their agenda into center stage with religious zeal, all the while drifting into extremism for lack of self-examination. "A Liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel." - Robert Frost - "Fascism, which was not afraid to call itself reactionary, does not hesitate to call itself illiberal and anti-liberal." - Benito Mussolini - These quotes and many more like them can be found here (scroll about 3/4 of the way down). 1:23:30 PM    Put your John Hancock right here!