LIBERALS: TAKE BACK THE FLAG!
By Nick Gier
 
Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion
but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

It was May Day, 1967, and I was doing my daily run around the national stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark, where I was completing my year as a Rotary Fellow.  There were thousands of Danish Communists, Socialists, and Social Democrats on the expansive lawns celebrating the world’s most important leftist holiday.
 
Something struck me about what these people carried in their hands.  For every bottle of beer, some of the best in the world, there were just as many small Danish flags.  As an American I thought: “What a novel idea: patriots on the left.”
 
This was not the first time I had noticed and admired Danish patriotism.  At every major occasion--a birthday or a wedding--little flags are festooned everywhere and a big flag is flying in the yard.  Danish homes, including their summer cottages, are not complete without a flag pole.
 
Danish patriotism culminates in a fervent devotion to Queen Margrethe II, a Cambridge trained archaeologist and accomplished artist, whose coronation I witnessed in January of 1972 and whom even today I consider my queen.
 
Let us turn to another country. The Sri Lankan flag contains two stripes, green embracing the Muslims and orange integrating the Hindus, thus validating their Sinhalese identity in the Country of the Lion (Sinhala).  Buddhist nationalists have removed these colors from their own flag as a clear warning to Sri Lankan Hindus, Muslims, and Christians that they are no longer welcome in their own country.  For these folks the upraised sword in the lion’s paw takes on a much more ominous meaning.
 
Most Americans could not place Sri Lanka (let alone Idaho ) on a map, but I still fear that some of our own nationalists might get wind of this.  One might instruct his wife to sew a new American flag with all the Blue State stars removed, even though the Blues pay 71 percent of the taxes and the Reds, from 1991 to 2001, received $800 billion more in goods, services, and cash from the feds than they paid in taxes.  During the same decade the Blues paid the feds $1.4 trillion. See John Sperling's The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro.

An even more perverted possibility actually happened at a recent retreat of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber head Paul Kimmell has neo-Confederate tendencies, and he gave a PowerPoint presentation on Robert E. Lee in which the final slide was the Confederate flag (with 14 stars) given equal weight with the Union flag (with all 33 stars). 
 
The cultural divide is indeed great:  In the 2004 election 39 states gave Kerry 1.5 million more votes than Bush, while 11 states (the heart of the Confederacy) gave 5 million more votes to Bush.  The neo-Confederates are urging these states to withdraw from the Union and govern themselves according to strict Calvinist principles and a “whites first” policy.
 
Speaking of colors, I just saw for the first time the bumper sticker “These Colors Do Not Run.”  This is message is obviously a corollary to the slogan “Support Our Troops.”  My first thought actually was a warning that we must not mix good European stock with other blood to make a rainbow flag!
 
With only a few bad eggs, I believe that our military is the best in the world, but a true patriot would insist that we should not put these young lives in danger unless there is a direct threat to our country, at which time it would indeed be cowardly for us not to defend ourselves.  But to invade a sovereign nation on the basis of “fixed” intelligence is bullying not retreating.

Buddhist and American nationalism are of course the exact opposite of true patriotism, which, like the Danes’ example, is inclusive and embracing rather than exclusive and dividing.  Genuine patriots are loyal to the principles of their country, not necessarily the government’s current policies.
As Jim Hightower said recently: “Our democracy was forged in rebellion, crafted by mavericks and risk-takers who refused to salute authority. They rejected all autocrats who tried to suppress liberties in the name of providing security and order.”
 
American patriots should freely exercise their right to dissent and to resist the tyranny of a “moral majority.”  They should also make common cause with countries that share the same liberal democratic principles, and they remain true to the treaties that they’ve made with them.