Defining Patriotism As Dissension: Obama Refuses To Wear Flag Pin
What can one say about a presidential candidate that can’t be persuaded to wear an American flag pin? We’re not talking about Katie Couric or the Dixie Chicks here, but a man who wants to be president! Shouldn’t our president be our greatest patriot? What does it mean if our president cannot recognize in America and its short history reasons enough to earn a public display of reverence? To wear a flag pin can mean many things, it doesn’t have to mean that you support slavery or that George Bush is your hero. But to refuse to wear a symbol of your country as you run for its highest office can only mean two things to me: America means nothing more to you than any other country, or you’re unwilling to defend this country’s honor. Either reason disqualifies you from the White House.
Senator Barak Obama’s reason for refusing the flag pin is typically liberal: utterly selfish and simplistic:
“The truth is that right after 9/11 I had a pin,” Obama said. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.
“I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest,” he said in the interview. “Instead, I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism.”
On Thursday, his campaign issued a statement: “We all revere the flag, but Senator Obama believes that being a patriot is about more than a symbol. It’s about fighting for our veterans when they get home and speaking honestly with the American people about this disastrous war.”
True patriotism is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security? Surely such an intelligent man doesn’t understand the symbol of the flag as being so one dimensional - like the Nazi symbol. Whether his revulsion stems from a fear of nationalism; the popular disdain of the internationalist, or the fear of popular patriotism as it is widely understood, he leaves us to decide his motives, but its obvious he doesn’t think this country is great. Such distorted definitions of patriotism abound on the left, and one wonders if this isn’t a tawdry political seduction, that he’s tapping into a liberal America that views the flag with the snort of contempt. I can’t believe that Obama sees his country to be as loathsome as Nazified Germany - wholly unredeeming and unworthy of honor, but it’s either ignorance or calculated dishonor that motivates him to reject such a simple act signifying love for his country.
Patriotism: devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty
If it’s ignorance that leaves him without the ability to find something worth defending about America, let me offer him reasons he might find useful in regaining enough faith in his country that he would consider embracing his country:
1) America is truly a land with open arms. It welcomes millions of legal and illegal poor immigrants, spreads out a generous safety net for them, and invites them to bring to America their extended family. Americans are the most charitable citizens in the world, and our government often the first to help those abraod suffering through natural disasters or man made horrors. Are we not a generous country?
2) America offers the most opportunity for success in the world - for people of every race, gender and culture. Senator Barak Obama’s story is the story of millions of immigrants who have come here from poor, tyrannical countries to find in America the chance to pursue happiness, and even pursue the highest office in the most powerful country in the world. Are we not a country of opportunity?
3) In America one can drown the crucifix in urine or undermine its military during war without fear of jail or retribution - in fact - we subsidize the acts of the ingrate as we subsidize memorials and museums. Throughout this country religious tolerance thrives without the murderous strife that defines so much of the world. Academic freedom has given rise to an educational elite that fearlessly indoctrinates our children into citizens ashamed of our history and ignorant of our rights and responsibilities. Are we not a liberal country?
4) America celebrates homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle and much of it considers marriage as a relationship of convenience. Throughout our schools children learn about sex at an prepubescent age through state and federal programs designed to undermine the homophobic influence of parents intent on raising their children as heterosexuals. Are we not a tolerant country?
Senator Obama - dare to wear that flag pin on your lapel to invite people to ask an American leader why he would. Then you can tell them that your love of this country stems from its generosity, the opportunity it offers, the liberal values it holds, and the tolerance it teaches. America is not just about foreign policy, or racism, or even capitalism - it is about an ideal that every day citizens of this country strive to make the legacy of our nation. If you cannot find even one reason to be proud enough to wear your love for this country on your breast, you have no business holding any office at all.
