You Can Choose The Constitution or You Can Choose the Flag and the President

Lloyd Hart

As Americans begin to celebrate the 4th of July it is important in my opinion to discuss what exactly is patriotism. The Bush regime would have us believe in this time of war, the war and terrorism, the never ending war, as it is impossible to win a war on terrorism especially using military might, that we must support the president regardless of the criminal and unethical behavior of many members of the regime. That we must support the president even though the war is undeclared and illegal and not supported by the United Nations Security Council. That this support regardless of all the facts that are playing out before our very eyes to the contrary, that this support is patriotic. That in fact dissent is unpatriotic and immoral.

Well I have some very serious problems with that idea. First of all I am a Canadian living in the U.S. who will never become a citizen of the U.S. for the simple fact that I will be asked at the citizenship ceremony to pledge allegiance to a flag. I will never pledged allegiance to a flag. Let me say it again. I will never pledge allegiance to a flag. Pledging allegiance to flag is the very source of the brainwashing that many Americans suffer from. The knee-jerk reaction when Americans exercising their right to dissent as a form of expression, burn a flag, used to make me wonder, did these knee-jerk reactionaries actually attended the civics class in their school when they were children. It hit me when I began to raise my own children in American schools that the kids had to pledge allegiance to the flag every morning before classes and that there was a picture of the President of the United States in every classroom. This is when I realized that a systematic brainwashing process was going on. It was the flag and the picture of the President that mattered not voting and the Constitution of the United States. How would one be able to raise an army if the American public focused on the Constitution. If the American public focused on the Constitution majorities of Americans would soon realize the drafting the youth into conquest economic adventures overseas of the military type was an unconstitutional use of the citizenry. If the American public focused on the Constitution slavery would have ended July 4th. 1776. If the American public focused on the Constitution the Native American would have been embraced as our brother and sister instead of being systematically genocided from a land. If the American public focused on the Constitution Jim Crow laws would have never gotten out of committee alone to the floor to be voted upon in the legislatures of the South. If the American public focused on the Constitution women would have gotten the vote on July 4th. 1776. The list goes on and on.

So I guess my point is, a nation especially a democratic one, or at least a nation that claims to be democratic should be careful what it makes as the symbols of importantance. Because the president and the flag are more important to Americans than the Constitution, the rule of law that governs the presidency is only applied when the president receives a hummer from an intern and not when the president fails to react to unprecedented intelligence concerning mass hijackings that led to the attacks on September 11, 2001. Because the President and the flag are more important to Americans than the Constitution its no wonder the Patriot Act got past. Because the president and flag are more important to Americans than the Constitution six men are about to be tried by military tribunal after illegally being removed from the battlefield and being named enemy combatants instead of prisoners of war violating the Geneva Convention. Because the flag and the president are more important to the American people than the Constitution it is a simple task for Americans to follow the genocidal maniac in the White House into battle murdering Iraqi men, women and children at will Because the President and the flag are more important to Americans than the Constitution this 4th of July is not a celebration of the American idea as embodied in the Constitution but rather a flag waving contest who's winner will be chosen by the president to sit closer to the master's table to reap the benefits of blind loyalty and unquestioning patriotism to the fascism and treason that has enveloped the entire discourse of what little democracy America once had.

Today I found the a head of the Tomahawk in my garden and I thought of the Wompanoag people that made it and then I thought of the arrival of my father's people in 1620. I will pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States but I will never salute the flag nor the President.

I agree with you for the most part, but I could not help but have a few questions for you. I do not want to assume that as a Canadian living in the US you do not know your Constitution, but it seems to me as though there are a few elements that you need reminding on.

First of all, I just wanted to say that you are correct. Blindly following whoever holds the highest office is not patriotic in the least. Sadly, people do not seem to understand that. I believe that the major problem with people today is ignorance. I see it all around me. People simply do not seek out more than one opinion or don't care enough.
Some appropriate quotes from Thomas Jefferson:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."

But now to move on to my main points...

It is true that most classrooms say the pledge of allegiance every morning. And they all have American flags. From my experience, though, there has never been a picture of the president in them and it has never been a problem to not say the pledge. The Supreme Court has, in fact, protected the right not to say the pledge. All they ask for is respect - the same respect which every country's representing symbol deserves. It's sort of like at NHL games between an American and a Canadian team. People remain standing for both national anthems. Why the pledge is mainly directed to the flag, I will never know. But keep in mind it also focuses on "the republic for which it stands."

The war in Iraq was technically not unconstitutional, if you don't count the more than slightly shady issue of Congress allowing the President to declare war on any country he pleases. They are the only ones with that ability (I.viii.X). Congress had the ability to do something, but they chose not to. They could have cut the funding. As for drafting.... there wasn't any. They were all volunteers for the army. Once in the armed forces you go where you are told, which is what they did. Drafting an army is not unconstitutional. Congress has the right to raise and maintain armed forces (I.viii.XII-XVI).

Slavery, sadly, was never abolished in the Constitution. In fact it was provided for and condoned so that it could be dealt with at a later date, or so some hoped. The three-fifths rule allowed states to count each slave as three-fifths of a person when taking a census (I.ii.III) for organizing taxes and representation. The practice of slavery was never expressly prohibited on a federal level, but international trade of slaves was abolished under the Articles of Confederation.

This leads into another interesting thing about the Constitution. It only states that "citizens" have the right to vote. It does not clearly outline who the makes up the citizens. Nor does it set up the methods by which the citizenry votes. That was decided by later legislation and modified by later amendments. All of these things were modified by later amendments, which is one of the great things about the Constitution. It provided for change because its creators knew there would be some. Status quo does not last forever, as the many examples in history show.

So I suppose I truly wanted to correct some of the things you said. The spirit of the Constitution is different than the fact of it. Do not take offence - they were meant with the utmost respect.

If you wish to bring about change in this country, then you need to make the citizens aware of problems. Do not "educate" them; that is equally as bad as the Bush Administration. They simply need to be engaged in political activity and given facts supporting both sides of issues so that they can make up their own minds.

Keep standing strong in true patriotism.

The war in Iraq was very important for the U.S. I'm afaraid you don't understand. The removal of Saddam Hussein and the future removal of the tyrants of Islam from Iran will allow our dear and loyal Israeli friends tremendous leverage in their negotiations with the Palestinian terrorists. In addition, a freer flow of oil from both Iraq,(and soon Iran), will vastly reduce energy prices which will greatly help our economy as well as needy Americans who heat thier homes and drive to work. God Bless President Bush and all his courage and wisdom.

would sell us out in a heart beat.
Ask the (surviving) members of the USS Liberty.
or the dead of the twin towers.
"hey Ihsmial, give me a high five"
they don't give a flying fuck about americans or anyone else.

If the lavon affair (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=lavon+affair) taught us anything, it's that the isreali's will do anything to further their own agenda, even if it means killing their 'allies' to do so. Civilians too even. What bastards.

FUCK ISREAL. Treacherous goat fuckers don't give a good god damn about anyone but themselves.

DEATH TO THE MOSSAD - DEATH TO ISREAL!!! LONG LIVE AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!

I said nothing about the jews. As hard as it is for you to imagine, there are jews who do not agree with the politics of isreal or the tactics of the mossad. I have the deepest respect for these individuals, they represent the best and bravest of their people.

But you can't admit that these people exist. If you did, you'd have to admit that being anti-isreal is not the same as 'anti-semite' (whatever the fuck thats supposed to mean). So by all means, go ahead and keep slamming the jews thinking you're going to get some of us to jump on board that bandwagon. Hold your breath. Please.

great point. fuck the jews!

did your parents ever have any children that lived?

The Constitution has been kicked and ripped to shreads by the Bush Junta. We all live in a police state with armed guards on every street corner and have to obtain permission from the government to cross county lines. It's time for action. Let's sit down and talk about it.

Uh, I went to Los Angeles County yesterday and didn't ask anyone's permission.

Perhaps your hyperbole is a tad overwrought.

You better get used to President Bush. He'll be running the show until '08.

Have a nice day.

I figured you had enough of a brain to recognize a parody statement by one of your co-shills.

Kelso: "Ok, Hyde, do you know what sarcasm is?"
Hyde: " No."

BTW: While i don't doubt he'll be re-elected, I would be fucking amazed if he wasn't impeached within 6 monthes of taking the oath again. This next election is just going to be a thinly vieled attempt to insert someone completely unelected into power (whoever runs as bush's vp that is).

So maybe you should just say it like it really is: Expect the powers that be to remain in power until 2008, the GOP will continue to rule america.

I would disagree with you but I imagine thats to be expected.

"We all live in a police state with armed guards on every street corner and have to obtain permission from the government to cross county lines."
-------

I haven't noticed armed guards on street corners.

I took a trip to King's Canyon these past few days. You whiners who feel that the sky is falling should do yourself a favor and get out of your crappy apartment for a few days and visit one of our National Parks. Perhaps the wide open spaces and solitude will do you some good. The country is in pretty good shape. Relax.

Thank You. I will. Getting ready to go enjoy some fireworks.

Actually, since Bush wasn't *really* elected in 2000 according to some people, that means he should be eligible for the next two elections.

Bush till 2012.

omg could you pinheads be any more idiotic?

But then again, we're leftists.

If you think we could be any more idiotic, let's sit down and talk bout it. That's how things get accomplished.

Is that all you got "activist community"? It sounds like the sum of your arguement is "I know you are but what am I". Are all the neocons assigned to this board 12 years old or what? What inbred backwater podunk rock did you dumbfucks crawl out from under?

"the neocons assigned to this board"

Do you really suffer from delusions of grandeur to the extent that you believe there are operatives "assigned" to stir things up on this forum?!

In my case, I am unpaid and unassigned. I just come here to have a laugh and see what the fringe is whining about now. I discovered the forum from a link off drudgereport a few months ago.

Are you an operative paid for and assigned by Saddam? Or Castro?

"Do you really suffer from delusions of grandeur to the extent that you believe there are operatives "assigned" to stir things up on this forum?! "

If anyone is actually getting paid to be here it would certainly be one of the more inane "leftists" who generally discredit and mock the liberal agenda with every post.

Diogenes, for example, would be a perfect candidate for an actual paid operative. His posts appeal to the delusional sheep-like leftists but are virtually repellent to anyone on the fence or to the right of him. He virtually ensures, singlehandedly, that this board will NOT lead to any new recruits to the far left camp.

Now, I DO NOT think that he is an operative. The idea of operatives at such a trivial and lightly visited site is hard to imagine. But surely, any CIA "psyop" would be subverting the "movement" from within by painting it with strokes of banality.

Hmmmm. Maybe Dio is a true "psyop"?

...the Republican Party still had leaders with honor.

"To announce that there must be NO criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President Right or Wrong, is not only unpatriotic and SERVILE, but is Morally Treasonable to the American Public."
--------Theodore Roosevelt (Perhaps the last Republican President with real Honor and Dignity.)