{"id":903,"date":"2019-07-04T11:43:21","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T18:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/?p=903"},"modified":"2019-07-04T11:43:21","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T18:43:21","slug":"my-message-of-patriotism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/?p=903","title":{"rendered":"My Message of Patriotism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Across the field you see the sky ripped open
See the rain through a gaping wound
Pelting the women and children
\nPelting the women and children
Who run
Into the arms
Of America <\/em>
\n-U2, “Bullet the Blue Sky” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is much doom and gloom this Fourth of July. It was taken for granted that the holiday was a non-partisan affair. But now we’re going to spend a lot MORE than the $2.5 million the National Park Service claims it diverted for Trump’s Washington spectacle<\/a>, and we’re gonna waste all that money because King Donnie, The First of his Name, kept stamping his little feet and screaming, “But I wanna PAWAAAAADE!!!!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, that includes the tanks. Can’t forget the tanks. Even\nthough anybody who’s ever been to Washington knows the roads can’t\nhandle Abrams tanks. (All the liberals ask libertarians, ‘without\ngovernment, who would build the roads?’ We have a government. Who’s\nbuilding the roads now?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I see people asking why a supposedly non-partisan affair did\nnot include ticket invitations for Democrats and independents, and\ncatered to the donor class, and why an event that is supposedly for\nall Americans is being turned into a Trump re-election rally. Well,\nbecause as far as the Banana Republican Party is concerned, the donor\nclass and the redcaps who go to Trump rallies are the only real<\/em>\nAmerica, and everyone else can hang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just this week I had a liberal Facebook friend post that the\npolitical situation is such that he doesn’t feel like celebrating the\nFourth of July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m sorry, but fuck that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s hardly alone. Megan Rapinoe, whose US Women’s Soccer Team is\nwinning victory after victory to reach the World Cup championship,\nhas made it clear she refuses to sing the national anthem. And the\nlatest controversy occured when exiled football star Colin Kapernick\nused his status with the Nike corporation to cancel a line of\nsneakers with the 13 Colonies “Betsy Ross flag” because\nit’s been co-opted by the alt-right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You got that right: The Betsy Ross flag<\/em> is evil and racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, fuck that too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supposedly the issue is that that flag is a legacy of slavery\ndays. Well, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution\nwere written in slavery days too. You want to disavow those? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Y’all see where this is going right? Apparently not. So let me\nexplain it to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You, the enlightened people, have made it clear that all the Trumpniks have to do is embrace some previously innocuous thing \u2013 like a US flag, or an “OK” sign and it becomes theirs<\/em>, cause as far as you’re concerned that thing has Trump cooties on it. If that’s all it takes, then “cancel culture<\/a>” is going to cancel its participants right out of the culture, including the culture of other people who don’t agree with Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what bullies do. They push you around, and they push some\nmore. “Just let me do this one little thing, and I’ll leave you\nalone.” “Just lemme borrow the car for three hours- no\nsorry, three days \u2013 and I’ll never do it again.” “Just\nbend over and spread your cheeks, and I’ll give you a cookie.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These people are counting on liberals to do what liberals always\ndo:
Knuckle under and give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Serwer, no Ayn Rand fan he, said on Twitter:\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSerwer\/status\/1146018661142093831 “To\nbe clear: I don\u2019t think it\u2019s wise to cede national or civic\nsymbols to racists because they want them to be able to publicly\npresent their ideology as ‘patriotic,’ and what America should be,\nwhich is exactly what is being contested. Let them have the stars and\nbars.” \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not giving up the Gadsden Flag. I am not giving up the Betsy\nRoss flag. The Stars and Stripes is MY flag.<\/strong> You can HAVE\nthe Stars and Bars, Trumpniks. THAT’s a flag for racists and losers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don’t let these people monopolize the public square. That’s\nwhat they WANT. And my advice to anybody who wants to cede the forum\nto anybody who makes a scene is: Grow a pair. And if you think that\nphrase is too “gendered” or offensive… grow a pair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might say, “this isn’t how an ally should behave.”\nWell who cares? I’m NOT an ally. I probably have more in common\nwith the “deplorables” than the lefties. I just don’t\nthink that people should be disenfranchised and dehumanized just for\nbeing who they are. Unlike Stephen Miller, I never forget. And I\ndon’t want my country to be destroyed by bullies, morons and Russian\nstooges, which in Trump’s case is all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you political robots are right and God\/Jesus and the Laws of\nPhysics all dictate that you can only vote for one of TWO political\nparties, and one of them is Trumpnik, if you expect me to vote with\nDemocrats and leftists, it would really help if you<\/em> quit\nfucking it up<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I vote for your candidates, it will certainly not be because I want you to gain any more power, and even if I did, events since 2018 have shown that you don’t bother to use the power you do have<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that matters is that one less Republican in office is one less\nRepublican trying to destroy the country. I can at least work to do\nthat much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to anybody who really does hate the flag, because the other\nside claimed it before you did, I ask: Do you seriously hate this\ncountry? What country are you living in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What other country are you going to fight for, if not this one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China? Russia, North Korea? I hate to tell you, but those are the\nguys supporting Trump. Everything you hate about America is this\ncountry is becoming more like them<\/em>, not more like America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you really think you’re going to escape racism, xenophobia and the encroaching state if you move to Canada<\/a>, Britain<\/a> or Germany<\/a>? Think again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where will you go that is immune to American influence, if this\ncountry becomes a literal empire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where will the refugees go, if this is the country they have to\nescape FROM?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What other country are you going to fight for, if not this one?
It\nall stops HERE, or it does not stop at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I was on social media, and followed a link to the speech of the great orator, Frederick Douglass \u2013 I hear he’s doing great things these days \u2013 entitled “What to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?”<\/a> And among many other great things he said in that speech, I was struck by the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome\natheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as\npreached by those Divines<\/em>! They convert the very name of\nreligion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve\nto confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings\nof Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done!\nThese ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having\nneither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. They\nstrip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion\na huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a religion for oppressors,\ntyrants, man-stealers, and thugs<\/em>. It is not that \u201cpure\nand undefiled religion<\/em>\u201d which is from above, and which is\n\u201cfirst pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated<\/em>, full of\nmercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without\nhypocrisy<\/em>.\u201d But a religion which favors the rich against the\npoor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind\ninto two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in\nchains, stay there<\/em>; and to the oppressor, oppress\non<\/em>; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all\nthe robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of\npersons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust\nthe great truth of the brotherhood of man. All this we affirm to be\ntrue of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and\nnation \u2014 a religion, a church, and a worship which, on the\nauthority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in\nthe sight of God. In the language of Isaiah, the American church\nmight be well addressed, \u201cBring no more vain ablations; incense is\nan abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of\nassemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn\nmeeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth.\nThey are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread\nforth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea! when ye make\nmany prayers, I will not hear. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to\ndo evil, learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed;\njudge for the fatherless; plead for the widow.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Twas ever thus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Douglass’ day, the forces of oppression had even more institutional support. But as Justin Amash just said<\/a>, the Founders created a “political system so ordered around liberty that, in succeeding generations, the Constitution itself would strike back against the biases and blind spots of its authors. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at length, a thing which could not last forever… did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s quite possible that Trump might\nbecome a dictator, because unless he gets stomped on Election Day \u2013\nand I mean, Walter Mondale in 1984 stomped \u2013 he’s gonna come up\nwith some weasely bullshit excuse for why the election was “unfair”\nor “rigged” and why it shouldn’t count, and all the\nRepublicans will go along with him because half of them truly want a\ndictator and the other half just don’t want the responsibility of\ndoing their jobs. And from what I see, most of the Democrats<\/em>\nwill go along with it, because their leaders are a combination of\nplain cowardice and learned helplessness, and most of the veterans\njust don’t want the responsibility of doing their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But do you seriously think Trump is\nsome immortal, invincible God-Emperor? He can’t live forever. When\nhe’s gone, what will Republicans replace him with? Mike Pence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Pence is so boring that his Secret\nService codename is “Mike Pence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Pence is so holier-than-thou that\nhis family Bible is autographed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Republicans had any asset other than\nTrump, they would’ve cut bait a long time ago. The cold fact of the\nmatter is that he really is the most popular and competent politician\nthey have. What does that say for the rest of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how bad it looks now, you\nhave to consider what you’re going to do when Trump is gone. Maybe\nsooner than you think. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he’s gone, are you still going to\nsay that this country is too ugly and racist to feel good about\ncelebrating a holiday? It’s the SAME COUNTRY that it was before\nTrump. Trump just made it obvious. Show the same consciousness when\nRepublicans aren’t<\/em> in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America: My country, right or wrong. If\nright, to be kept right, if wrong, to be set right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best thing you can do to celebrate\nthe holiday is to do exactly what you did the year before, and the\nyears when Obama was president. Have fun. And also, ponder what\n“independence” means and why this country was founded. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you do NOT do is concede the\nfield. What you do not do is let these people put a trademark on\n“America” the way they put a trademark on Christianity.\nAfter all, the difference between America and Jesus is that we can\nprove that America exists. Some of us live here, even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re going to give up, you’ve\nalready lost. If you’re going to mourn, this country is already\ndead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So until Election Day, remember the words of the politically incorrect Tim Allen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Across the field you see the sky ripped openSee the rain through a gaping woundPelting the women and children Pelting the women and childrenWho runInto the armsOf America -U2, “Bullet the Blue Sky” There is much doom and gloom this Fourth of July. It was taken for granted that the holiday was a non-partisan affair. … Continue reading My Message of Patriotism<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7z47x-ez","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":909,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgillen3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}