I appreciate the sentiment, Chris, but I've never been much for symbolism. I believe in America, but even more, I believe in democracy. And I have come to understand democracy as being like muscles, if they aren't used they get weak. Flags are fine, they're like a tank top to show off your muscles, but they don't actually make you stronger. Only action does that.
I think you, Chris, make us stronger every time you go to work. You provide an essential service and you put your life on the line to protect the rest of us. You enforce the laws that the democratic process creates - an essential function. My job - not so essential. I make XML documents for archiving the Journal of Aquatic..zzzzz. Let's just say I have a 9 to 5 job. If I just do my job, put a flag sticker on my truck, and vote in presidential elections, have I pulled my weight in a democracy? I don't believe so. So I make it a point to learn about issues that are important to us as a country (and that interest me) and I lobby Congress and the administration on them. So this Memorial day I plan to spend at the office so I can attend meetings with congressional staffs and lobby them to support democratic reforms in Indonesia.
This is a necessary function of democracy because we, as a democratic country are stronger and more secure in the world if there are more, and stronger, democracies in the world. It's also necessary because politics happens whether we like it to or not. There are large powerful interests that lobby our government to support policies on their behalf, even if it doesn't support the interests of the American public. That's a fact of life. America's policies toward Indonesia supported a military dictatorship in Indonesia for 32 years because it created a good business climate for American companies. But in a democracy, where our government is a reflection of the people, we have to involve ourselves in the process if we want our government's policies to reflect our values. In places like China, Saudi Arabia, and previously in Indonesia, the government is not a reflection of its people because the people go to elections at gunpoint, if they have elections at all. They don't have a free press. They can't lobby or change their governments because their militaries are designed to protect the government from the people. We have the right to change our leaders, and influence policy, but we also have the responsibility to.
So I feel like I'm honoring my own relatives who fought and died in wars when I'm working to avoid wars, by opposing the oppression of people, by supporting America's democratic values in places that don't have the right to share them. And when it seems to me that our policies generally reflect what the American people would want them to do, when congressmen and women who are trying to do the right thing for the world aren't starving for public support, then I'll put on a flag. Right now I think we still have some working out to do. I'm on my high horse again, I know, but that's how I feel.
<img src="http://yerdaddy.homestead.com/files/pics/sigtard.jpg" >
This message was edited by someone with more sense.