I don't have a problem with displays of patriotism, but I certainly have problems with pathological nationalism and with treachery on behalf of any form of despotism. We all know what forty-eight stars and thirteen stripes meant from Operation Torch to Mauthausen and Buchenwald... and from Midway to Iwo Jima. I see nothing inconsistent between fifty stars and thirteen stripes and the Civil Rights movement. I see plenty wrong with insurrectionists using a US flag to attack police officers in the Capitol Building in an effort to nullify a fair and free election on behalf of a President who went down the path to dictatorship. Is that any worse than using a Nazi, Soviet, Saddam-era Ba'athist or ISIS flag to attack police officers doing their jobs? At least we know the Nazi, Soviet, Ba'athist, and ISIS banners for what they stand. Using one of those in the service of an evil cause is what one expects.
Using the US flag in the service of an evil cause is at least as offensive to me as is defecating upon it.
Democracy does not mean that one gets what one wants in politics, but it certainly means that if you want something that doesn't hurt others you have a chance with your own effort, toil, and investment... or your ability, should you lack the capital for investment, the ability to convince those with capital to buy shares or lend money. Someone now ninety years old may in theory may have voted for Eisenhower twice, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon twice, Carter, Reagan twice, the elder Bush once, Clinton twice, Dubya twice, Obama twice, Trump once, and Biden. Ignoring 2000 and 2020 as an oddity that means that random chance leaves one with one chance in 34300 or so of being "right". (2000 and 2020 are ambiguous on whether voting with the electoral plurality or with the results of the Electoral College was "right".
Using the US flag in the service of an evil cause is at least as offensive to me as is defecating upon it.
Democracy does not mean that one gets what one wants in politics, but it certainly means that if you want something that doesn't hurt others you have a chance with your own effort, toil, and investment... or your ability, should you lack the capital for investment, the ability to convince those with capital to buy shares or lend money. Someone now ninety years old may in theory may have voted for Eisenhower twice, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon twice, Carter, Reagan twice, the elder Bush once, Clinton twice, Dubya twice, Obama twice, Trump once, and Biden. Ignoring 2000 and 2020 as an oddity that means that random chance leaves one with one chance in 34300 or so of being "right". (2000 and 2020 are ambiguous on whether voting with the electoral plurality or with the results of the Electoral College was "right".
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
