You are in the ‘get out of the way’ class of detritus as the Republic is being aborted.
MGHinTn, you referred to me as a "class of detritus". A type of waste or debris? THAT is what you called me? Please tell me, MGHinTn, what did I do to deserve a personal insult like THAT because I politely disagreed with you?
Do you really think it is called for to refer to someone as class of detritus just because they disagree with your assertion that flying the American flag upside down at half staff is the most valid way to protest?
Let me ask YOU, MGHinTN, What do YOU do to change things?
How many times have you done things and given money for candidates to help them out? I have given money AND time to candidates both here in my home state and in other states.
How many times have you got out on the streets to protest and counter-protest against the liberal point of view and policies you disagree with? I have, dozens of times, traveling thousands of miles WITH MY OWN MONEY to do so.
How much money and time have YOU given to support the troops? I have to the tune of thousands of my hard earned dollars, and I have stood out in front of Walter Reed to personally show my support and visited the troops.
I BITTERLY resent, BITTERLY, your characterization of ME and by extension, others like me as a "class of detritus", when YOU think that the most IMPORTANT way to protest is hanging an American flag upside down and at half-staff.
Perhaps you have done all these things I have done, and more.
But I have gone out of my way NOT to personally insult you or anyone else who wishes to protest in this manner, because it is a free country, and as a conservative, I believe that I do not have the RIGHT to tell you or those like you what to do. Even though I VIGOROUSLY disagree with that form of protest because of the way that I feel about the American flag, I have purposely muted my disagreement with those of you who feel otherwise, because YOU think it is an important way to protest.
I personally think it is disrespectful to the American flag, which stands for something. I believe that the symbolism is important.
The following is a story I have read in a variety of places, it has been in several books.
There was a pilot who was captured by the North Vietnamese o named Mike Christian. Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.
Treatment had been harsh for many years, but as the war got closer to the end, the communists began to ease up slightly. As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing. Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.
Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, the POW's would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
One day the Vietnamese searched the cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it. That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him back in. His cellmates cleaned him up as well as best as they could.
After they cleaned him up, the others looked back over at him, and sitting there with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, Mike Christian began sewing again. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag.
My point in telling this story is two-fold: ONE, that the American flag is MORE than a piece of cloth used for protesting, and TWO, that if those men, living in a dank concrete cell, being tortured and beaten, separated from their liberty, country, wives, families and children did not see fit to hang that hand-made American flag upside down in that rat-hole of a cell, when things were bleaker than ANY of us can imagine, we shouldn't do it here, in the light of day, when we still have some tools left to fight with.
While a Gadsen Flag may not have the shock value of an American flag hung upside-down and at half staff, I think it gets the point across fine without having to resort to using an American flag.
MHGinTN, I apologize for the tone of this discourse. Bitterness and hatred are two things that, like many things, do not disappear in time, but only become more concentrated and powerful with its passage. I cannot afford to carry this with me as I view life around me, in this country. The burden of seeing it would only be compounded by animosity I might feel towards those who I should view as allies.
I strive to speak to people online in the same fashion I would speak to them face to face. But in the last two days, I have twice found myself failing to keep discourse civil, regardless of the cause. I am human, and as such, fallible. As a Christian, you understand that. I don’t know you personally, but that shouldn’t be important. No matter who you are, I should strive to keep the discourse civil. If you accept my apology or even reciprocate is not the issue, but being a Christian as you apparently are, I hope you will accept this apology.
I said things in my postings I would never say to nearly anyone except in the most dire of circumstances, and this thread on FR does not meet that criteria.
I want you (and other people on this thread who think this particular subject is important) to know that I have never castigated any other person for how much or how little they engage in affairs outside their home.
I have never thought less of people because the only way they can express themselves is by doing things like putting ribbon magnets on their cars or posting on Free Republic. This is because no matter how much each one of us does, there is always MORE that can be done.
If someone were to denigrate another because the only way they can support some political cause is by having a magnetized ribbon on their car (and I have seen people criticized for this) how can the person doing the criticizing be immune, if the only thing they do is give money to candidates?
If someone were to castigate another because the only way the can support some political cause is by giving money to candidates, how can the person doing the criticizing be immune, if the only thing THEY do is go to demonstrations?
And so on. In my case, it might boil down to someone saying “Why do you engage in that pointless stuff like going to demonstrations or emailing donations? How come you don’t run for office?”
And it would be a valid point. Do I feel badly because I cannot force myself to do what is necessary to run for office, even at a local level to begin changing government? Yes, I do. I feel that as a capable person, I should be doing that instead of leaving it in the hands of people who don’t have our best interests at heart. But it against my nature to engage in that, and in the end, is an excuse like the many we all have for choosing our level of protest.
What it comes down to is people resist in every way they can. If a man is chained to a wall, his only recourse to fight back may to spit on the floor that the jailer must clean. People do what they can, and that is enough.
So I just wanted all posters on this thread to understand, that while your method of resistance is not my method, I do not belittle it. I disagree with it, but I understand people must do what they feel they can do, be it run for office or put stamps on envelopes upside down.