The people in my little San Jose neighborhood are not Bush admirers. We are almost universally opposed to Dubya, his ill-conceived, illegal, and still unexplained war, and his redistribution of this country’s resources to the most wealthy and powerful among us.
And yet, American flags proliferate this weekend, including on the front of my house. Because while Dubya and Dick and Donald use the flag as a convenient political logo — in much the same way other fascists through time have created graphic identities for their regimes — we progressives know that the flag is a symbol of freedom, a symbol of liberty, and not a call to torture, kill, and wage war under pretense and ulterior motive.
We are proud to be Americans, but ashamed of the people who have taken power in our nation, a nation that — despite attempts by the current people in power — still stands for freedom and could yet be a powerful force for good in this world.
America is an ongoing experiment in democracy and self-government; and many experiments wander into a dangerous place from time to time. Hopefully we’ll soon gain control again and steer it back on course. Here’s hoping that will happen before another Independence Day rolls around.
