I put the flag in my lapel tonight. First time. Until now I haven't thought it necessary to display a little metallic icon of patriotism for
everyone to see. It was enough to vote, pay my taxes, perform my civic duties, speak
my mind, and do my best to raise our kids to be good Americans. Sometimes I would offer a small prayer of gratitude that I had
been born in a country whose institutions sustained me, whose armed forces
protected me, and whose ideals inspired me; I offered my heart's affections in return. It no more occurred to me to flaunt the flag
on my chest than it did to pin my mother's picture on my lapel to prove her
son's love. Mother knew where I stood; so does my country. I even tuck a
valentine in my tax returns on April 15.
So what's this flag doing here? Well, I put it on to take it back. The flag's
been hijacked and turned into a logo -- the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism. On those Sunday morning talk shows, official
chests appear adorned with the flag as if it is the Good Housekeeping
seal of approval. And during the State of the Union, did you notice Bush
and Cheney wearing the flag? How come? No administration's patriotism is ever in doubt, only
its policies. And the flag bestows no immunity from error. When I see flags sprouting on official lapels, I think of the time in
China when I saw Mao's Little Red Book on every official's desk, omnipresent and
unread.
But more galling than anything are all those moralistic ideologues in Washington sporting the flag in their lapels while writing books and
running Web sites and publishing magazines attacking dissenters as
un-American. They are people whose ardor for war grows disproportionately
to their distance from the fighting. They're in the same league as those
swarms of corporate lobbyists wearing flags and prowling Capitol Hill for
tax breaks even as they call for more spending on war.
So I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags in their lapels who
shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks, or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don't have to make it, or approve of
bribing governments to join the coalition of the willing (after they first
stash the cash). I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks
we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us. The flag
belongs to the country, not to the government. And it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war -- except in self-defense -- is a
failure of moral imagination, political nerve, and diplomatic skill. Come
to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country.
What do you think?