Get ready to clutch your pearls, Dear Reader, because I’m suddenly feeling patriotic. Yeah, I know. Shocker. I haven’t felt that way since, I’m guessing, 2017.
As a child, patriotism was my default position. Not that I was obsessed with it. I wasn’t raised in North Korea, after all. But I was being indoctrinated as every American child was. We were taught that this was the land of the free, the home of the brave, give us your tired, your poor, the greatest country on earth, everybody wants to be American so we’re lucky, We the People, God Bless America, Founding Fathers, Independence, and so forth.
It shocks me in retrospect to realize I never questioned the Kool-Aid until the day I took a Dutch friend of mine that I had met during my freshman year in college, along with her parents who were visiting, to Disney World, and we went to the Hall of Presidents. I came out not thinking it was unusual, but they were all rather stunned. They pointed out that not very many other countries would have the nerve to put on such a pompous display of self-adoration. I remember being shocked. Mostly because that had never occurred to me.
At that point, I hadn’t yet traveled out of the country. Well, unless you count Canada, which (forgive me, Canada), I didn’t at the time. In essence, I had never really looked at my country from the outside in.
With xenophobia on the rise, I think it’s important that more Americans engage in foreign travel. We need to do so in order to learn that the rest of the world isn’t the enemy. Here’s a concept: it’s okay to have different ideas, different philosophies, different cultures, and different ways of doing things. Differences do not automatically make someone a threat. I think 3 months abroad should be a requirement for graduating high school. People’s horizons should be broadened before they take on adult responsibilities such as voting and deciding whether or not to join the military and what constitutes following orders. And yet less than half of all Americans hold a valid passport.
Where was I going with all this? Oh yeah! Patriotism! After that Hall of Presidents epiphany, I started becoming more globally and politically aware. I also started traveling. This all caused my patriotism to become more complex.
I think my patriotic evolution was similar to what I imagine a daughter’s relationship must be like with her father, if she’s a daddy’s girl. When she’s young, daddy is the hero and can do no wrong. As she gets older, she starts noticing his flaws and becomes horribly disappointed, but wants to cling to that fierce love. As the relationship gets more complicated, there’s conflict, rebellion, and protest. With maturity, she realizes that there are things she admires about him and things that she’s conflicted about and hopes will improve, and some things she’s completely disgusted by.
Unfortunately, that analogy, for many of us, breaks down when daddy turns out to be a racist, misogynistic, tyrannical, fraudulent, mendacious, warmongering pedophile who is hellbent on our destruction, and proudly claims jurisdiction over our reproductive organs. (I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see that coming. Maybe I should have.)
But yeah, that has made patriotism rather impossible for me of late. But I have been seeing some glimmers of hope here and there. As things go increasingly to hell in a handbasket, more people are beginning to wake up, and Trump’s approval ratings are tanking. And like rats on a sinking ship, even members of his own party are starting to devour one another as they scramble for the exits. It’s doing my heart good. When I wrote this nearly 4 weeks ago, the graph looked like this:
But what really got me fired up today, Dear Reader? This song!
Not only does it “have a good beat and you can dance to it” as the saying goes, but it should be the anthem for everyone running against a Republican for the next 10 years. For those of you who can’t see the video for some reason, I’ll post the lyrics below. (I will admit they’re a little more cheesy when you just read them, but the song makes you want to go out there and climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty and declare an end to Fascism everywhere, now and forever!)
I found this song on the YouTube channel called The Resistance. Their page states that all their songs are original and created by them, but they give permission to share any of these songs anywhere we wish. The idea is to spread the mocking and the criticism far and wide with a like-minded audience. Some of the most popular “The Resistance” songs can also be found on streaming platforms such as Spotify under the artist name Swan Court. For obvious reasons, the artists who create these original songs choose to remain anonymous.
It’s sad that in this day and age, those reasons are so obvious. And that’s one of the reasons why I love this song, because it deals with a topic that I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately. Dammit, I do want my flag back. I am sick and tired of what I’m seeing in this country.
Now, when I see a proliferation of American flags, I get scared. Because the flag has been stolen by the Neo-Nazis and by MAGA. It’s a symbol of hate. The more flags in an area, the more likely someone is about to get hurt or at the very least intimidated and made to feel unsafe. When I see American flags now, it makes me want to leave the vicinity.
That also means that I don’t feel comfortable displaying the flag myself, because I don’t want to scare anyone else. I don’t want them to assume that I’m racist or that I don’t think they deserve to be here. I don’t want them to feel unsafe or unwelcome or have any doubts around me.
I’m a second generation American. All 4 of my grandparents were immigrants. My grandfather was a Merchant Marine in WWII, my father fought in WWII. My sister served in the Air Force for 21 years. I have seen the statistics, and know that immigrants keep our economy going, and that they are much less violent and much more law abiding than the average American. I also know that they aren’t “taking our jobs”, and in fact, often do some of the most thankless jobs that most of us wouldn’t be caught dead doing. And they also bring diversity and greater perspective and innovation to the workplace when they hold less thankless jobs, and we all benefit from that. I genuinely believe that our country is much better off due to our immigrants, and to deny this is to deny one of the core values of the founding of this nation.
Obvious apologies are due to the indigenous peoples whose land we’ve stolen and whose lives we’ve destroyed in the process. There’s no denying that. But the very people who have confiscated the American flag would be more than happy to go after them as well, once every other person of color, LGBTQ+ person, and political opponent is either killed or ejected from this country, so, if they have to pick a side, the current flag wavers are probably not their best bet.
I can’t remember the first time I saw an American flag and got scared. There had to have been one. But it really makes me angry that there was one. How dare they? The idea that our flag could become so symbolically warped on our own soil sickens me beyond words. But it also sickens me that we sat back and let it happen.
Or, here’s an even less palatable idea. Have I been deluded all along? Has the American flag always been something to fear for people? Was I fooled in my younger days, into thinking that it was once a symbol of welcome, and a thing that people were relived to see after a desperate flight from other, more dangerous or more desperate places? God, I hope I haven’t been living a lie my entire life.
But the fact that I can’t remember when my own personal uneasiness with the flag started for me shows that it was sneaky. Little by little. One star or stripe at a time. And that ain’t right by half. No siree.
So, yes, this song is making me feel really patriotic, but it’s a complex, more mature patriotism. It isn’t a patriotism borne of blind, unquestioning obedience. It has peaks and valleys, depending upon what I’m seeing and hearing, and whether I feel it’s worthy of praise or not. But when all is said and done, isn’t that the purest form of American Patriotism? The kind that allows for individuality? Integrity? Freedom of Speech? The right to have a voice in what your government does?
Yeah. I don’t miss the patriotism of my childhood. I’ve seen too much to go back to that. I also don’t enjoy being utterly devoid of patriotism. I’d like to maintain the patriotism I feel when I hear this song. It’s halfway between that giddy childhood patriotism and my recent utter cynicism, with a soupçon of hope for our future, just to add flavor, if you please.
This 250th 4th of July should feel more significant than it does. It’s proving to be kind of disappointing. And I understand that it has a much different significance for Native Americans, and that deserves acknowledgement, too, but that’s being ignored by this administration, and that’s a travesty.
No matter how you feel about things, or what your history is, we are all here, whether we feel welcome or not. We’re here. And that matters. We all share that.
I can respect your choice of celebrating or not celebrating this holiday. I can respect the way you choose to celebrate it, as long as it doesn’t include violence or hate or waking me up at 3 am or terrifying my dogs with your explosions at random locations for no GD reason.
One way or another, I hope you find joy on the 4th day of July, Dear Reader, and every other day, for that matter.
I Want My Flag Back
I remember it flying
over ball fields in June,
Cotton candy skies
and a cheap plastic tune.
It didn’t ask questions
about who you were,
Just caught the wind
and let freedom stir.
Now it’s draped like a warning,
a line in the sand,
Waving like it belongs
to one kind of hand,
Like the rest of us
wandered in by mistake,
Like the dream’s a thing
they alone get to take,
You wrapped it in anger,
you dipped it in fear,
You told half the country
“you don’t belong here!”
I want my flag back,
From the fists and the noise,
From the slogans that shrink it,
From the men being boys!
It was never your weapon,
It was never your throne!
It was stitched for the many,
Not claimed by the lone!
I want my flag back!
Let it mean what it said,
Not just red for your outrage,
But the blood that was shed!
For the promise of justice,
For the hope we once had!
Yeah,
I want my flag back!
I want my flag back!
The stars used to whisper,
“we’re equal somehow”
Now they flicker like spotlights
on who is allowed.
The stripes sang of rebels
who challenged the throne.
Now they’re lines in the sand
Saying, “stay in your zone.”
The blue was for justice—
steady and wide,
Now it’s bent into banners
that just pick a side.
And white was for truth,
for the best we could be,
Not what we are—
but a promise to see.
You don’t own the anthem,
you don’t own the sky!
You don’t get to tell me
who’s American—nice try!
I want my flag back,
From the rage and the spin,
From the loud little tyrants,
Draped head to chin!
It was never your costume,
It was never your brand,
It was sewn from an idea,
Not stamped by your hand!
I want my flag back!
Let it breathe, let it stand,
For the tired and broken,
For every last hand,
That still reaches upward,
Still believes we can be,
Something bigger than power…
Something closer to free!
It flew through the fire…
It flew through the flood…
It’s been carried by dreamers…
And stained by their blood…
It don’t belong to a party…
Or a preacher or king….
It belongs to the people—
all people who sing!
I want my flag back,
Not the version you sold,
Not the fear-wrapped illusion,
Not the story retold!
Give me justice and courage,
Give me truth over spin,
Give me all of the people,
Not just those you let in!
I want my flag back,
And I’m taking it too,
From the hands that would shrink it,
From the lies dressed as truth!
It was never your kingdom!
It was never your crown!
It’s a flag for the many—
And we’re taking it down!
Just to raise it back up!
Just to raise it back up!
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