If you see an american flag, do you

[MoseyWalker]

do as my brother does and scream at the top of your voice "God bless america and god bless halliburton" with a huge bit of sarcasm or

do you think and say something else?

what does the american flag mean to you these days? what does any flag really mean?

[EdwardM]

1. An American Flag means nothing to me.

I don't like nationalism, it never leads to good things. I support a better quality of life for all people regardless of their flag. All patriotism to me seems to be is a "we are better than you" attitude and I have never understood it.

[MoseyWalker]

2. thanks

and it's not only "we are better than you" but we are separate from you.

We are all together here fighting the same life battles.

thanks again for your reply

[Vexatious Ape]

3. The day after Bush won in 04, I peeled the flag stickers off my

vehicles and yanked my little flag off my front porch and tossed it all in the can. I am just now getting over that election--thanks to this last election. I know I'm lucky to be an American, but there's a big difference between luck and pride.

[beltanefauve]

4. Unfortunately,

thanks to all the jingoism of the last six years, my first reaction is to cringe. Then I feel sad. Dammit, it's MY flag, too. And these fear mongering brownshirts have desecrated it. I see it slapped on an SUV and automatically think,"* supporter!" Then I get angry. I want to take the flag back. After all, who are the REAL patriots here, right?

[murielm99]

7. Take it back.

Who says it belongs to them exclusively? Don't allow it.

I have always defied them.

I still fly my flag on holidays. I have a flag pin I wear sometimes. It is my flag, and has always been.

I am a Christian, too. I will not let the fundies take my religion any more than I will let the wingnuts take my flag.

They don't get to steal my symbols and beliefs. I make sure that anyone who questions me about my display of the flag or about my religious beliefs knows that I am a Democrat and a liberal.

[beltanefauve]

20. I like your attitude,

murielm99!:patriot:

[Syrinx]

5. I want it to stand for what it should stand for

I want it to stand for the Constitution and for Liberty.

But it does not. Not now.

[Raine]

6. It represents the country I live in...

I don't think about it beyond that. I'm neutral on it.

[Psephos]

8. The flag represents a conception of government worthy of respect

There is, unfortunately, a gap between theory and practice of that idea of government. That doesn't mean the idea is unworthy...instead, it means it's unfinished, tarnished by those who would subvert its power. We must take back the flag from unworthy hands.

I hear the cynics daily talk about the primacy of the person and the irrelevance of government. This is a favorite line of those who can envision nothing larger or more important than themselves. No wonder anomie and suspicion run rampant through our culture.

Government is a social contract that binds us one to the other, so that we may accomplish things no single person could attempt. A single bee makes no honey. It took legions to pull the stone blocks up their wooden ramps to become pyramids.

Nationalism is, like alcohol, possibly useful in moderation, but dangerous and destructive in large doses. Those who associate nationalistic feelings with the flag misuse its power and miss its promise. The flag stands for a fair shake, an equal footing, an accommodation of differences, an opportunity for each person to live life freely and fully in service to self and to others. Shame on those who have caused us to forget its true meaning.

Peace.

[MoseyWalker]

9. thank you for those thoughts

thoughtful, indeed!

:-)

[Tyo]

10. It's a convenient way of identifying the embassy or consulate if I am overseas.

Or the post office if I am at home. Other than that it really means nothing to me. It's the Constitution that I would fight to defend. The flag has been misused and abused, commercialized and politicized to the point where all meaning has been wrung out of it.

[spoony]

11. I silently wonder if the "great experiment" is over n/t

[liberalsoldier5]

12. I salute it.

If not literally then in my mind I do. Loving your country and being proud of where you live isn't and SHOULD NOT be a conservative thing. I've had a flag flying outside on my front porch ever since 9/11. A lot of people asked me if I'd take it down after the 2004 election. I told them that they were crazy. Why fly the flag only when the guys that you picked are in power? As long as I'm doing my part to make America better everyday, whether its volunteering my time to those who need it or writing a letter the editor of my local paper freely expressing my opinion, I'm happy to fly old glory as well.

[Eurobabe]

13. No, it's OUR flag GODDAMMIT!!

As Wes Clark said so eloquently in 2004, "We rose and stood reveille to this flag. We saluted this flag. We fought for this flag. And we've seen brave men and women buried under this flag. This flag is ours! And nobody will take it away from us."

Not even BUSHCO or HALLIBURTON. Dont let the turkeys get you down.

'Nuf said.

[Wonk]

14. I desecrate it, on principle

:sarcasm:

[MoseyWalker]

15. it happens!

peace

[izzie]

16. I think it was a big deal when I grew up. I was a kid in WW2

Each morning and late after noon we all put the flag up and then down. We had to be there at a small grade school in Maine. The Summer camps I went to did the same thing. It was a set thing to do and it was the same when I married a navy man in the 50's at the bases. Something happened and I am not sure when. It just became some thing left up and did not mean anything to most of us. Off hand I think it may have been they stopped teaching civics in school but that is a wild guess. I usually think of the old times when I see a flag now and wonder about this.

[Kahuna]

17. I don't get misty over the flag. It is only a rag to me. My reverence

is for the constitution which USED TO actually have some meaning behind it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

18. Most of the time

it means I have more respect for it than the "patriots" I see flying it — at night with no light on it, in the rain, wind-wrapped several times around its staff...

I don't fly a flag. If I did, I'd treat it a hell of a lot better than they do.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. It no longer means anything to me. The ideals that the current flag once

represented are dead in the USA, so the flag has little meaning.

[sniffa]

21. break out the kerosene

burn baby, burn!!

[Sugar Smack]

22. Your brother sounds like a trip.

:rofl:

[survivor999]

23. Dunno, it's not that pretty.

I mean, I hate superhero colors. The design is nothing spectacular. Flags mean nothing. The only thing that matters is nature, and the people in it.

[hsher]

24. Well as for me

My chest hurts, my heart actually kind of aches, and I feel happy/sad at the same time. Then I feel proud, and kind of sad again about what's happened the past 6 years. Then I carry that in my heart and spend the rest of my day (mostly) thinking, planning, or doing things that will make America better in some way, even if it's small, just being kind to a stranger. That's just my reaction.