In response to a recent e-mail floating around entitled “Fly the Flag” and designed as a memorial for all those who lost their lives on 9/11/01: I’m all about flying our flag, but the flag is certainly not the “fabric of our country,” as the e-mail claims.
The real, important fabric of our country is individual unalienable liberty, as guaranteed by our Constitution. If this fundamental philosophy on which our entire country was founded is not made clear, then any such patriotic message is far from complete.
The e-mail does not even mention liberty, or the Constitution. I cannot help but wonder about its intent, but perhaps the originator simply did not think about this fact and got all caught up in the effort of encouraging national unity, which we most certainly need.
Perhaps we are all supposed to know that our flag represents our country, which is marketed as the land of the free. But somehow the notion of waving a flag while our government continues to transgress the Constitution without any regard to accountability for its unconstitutional actions, seems somewhat akin to a TV preacher thumping on and waving around a Bible while asking for money to fuel his limo.
I think everyone can stand united when we become victims of a foreign terrorist attack. However, domestic terrorism is much more deceptive.
Considering that our military and representatives take an oath of office to uphold liberty and defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic, it seems clear that both are certainly [challenges] with which we should all be concerned.
And if/when someone decides to fly the flag upside down, this doesn’t necessarily mean that these people are anti-American. We should consider they are doing so to illustrate the belief that our country is in distress as a result of domestic terrorist attacks against our individual unalienable liberties.
So I urge everyone who decides to fly the flag for whatever reason, including the tragic 9/11 attack, to seriously consider the real importance of what the flag stands for.
— Bernard Baruch Carman
Liberty Liaison, Libertarian Party-Buncombe
Asheville
You said it, brother.
To ensure the flag’s integrity, the country it represents must make every effort to institute and protect values worth protecting. Rule of law and liberty are those values that we require to maintain our prosperity and our decency.
The danger of flag waving in the absence of these values has been seen again and again.
/KDR