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Patriotism: Does It Have to Be Worn on Your Sleeve?

May 20, 2008
1 comment

Sean says...

Respect for one's country is one thing, is wearing it really necessary? Does not wearing a flag pin or patriotic garb mean we are any less loving of our nation? When is symbolism too much?

I don't usually agree with CNN commentator and columnist Roland Martin but today he really hit the nail on the head. When are we as people going to let silly issues like this one go and concentrate on issues? Probably never, since we hold on to things we can understand and ignore things we don't. This is an easy issue that gets people fired up unlike poverty.. I mean some Boston Red Sox fans will never vote for a New York Yankees fan, but sometimes you have too.

But is not wearing something desecration or ambivilence? I don't think so. We all support our free will to make decisions, should we really be throwing rocks at glass houses on who is more of something? If we did that noone would get along. Is what we do to show our patriotism or any other personal feeling about our lives, loves, country, or religion anyone else's business as long as it does not harm or personally insult someone?

(CNN) -- When is the last time you watched a mindless movie that had no redeeming value for you intellectually, but all it did was make you laugh?

That perfectly describes the raging debate among voters and the rabid television and radio talk show hosts who love to yell and scream from the top of their lungs, "I'm an American, and by golly, you better show as much appreciation for this country as I do!"

But once you finish listening to these high-minded bloviators -- and yes, that includes the voters who have bought into this nonsensical issue -- ask yourself: Does it really have anything to do with anything?

I've watched this debate reach the levels of absurdity this year because journalists and commentators have raised the question to Sen. Barack Obama, "Why don't you wear a flag lapel pin?"

I really got a kick out of that one during the ABC debate last month because not one person on stage -- Sens. Hillary Clinton and Obama, along with moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos -- bothered to accessorize their attire with a flag lapel pin.

Sen. John McCain has been traveling the globe as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and this former soldier often doesn't wear a flag lapel pin.

It has become sort of like bird watching as I've surveyed elected officials on the local and national levels and looked them over like a hen-pecked mother or a foaming-at-the-mouth military drill sergeant, studying their attire and deeming them insufficiently American because of their lack of decency and respect by refusing to adorn themselves appropriately with a lapel pin.

So, after listening to radio callers and the folks that e-mail various TV shows, maybe we ought to expand this need to express our Americanism even further. Shouldn't we insist that our politicians all begin to sport red, white and blue socks in order to feel good knowing that they are walking as Americans? How about asking officeholders to sport the American colors as undergarments to show that their undying love for the country is so important, they want the flag pressed against their skin?

There have been times when the candidates -- especially McCain, who has beaten back skin cancer -- have worn hats on the campaign trail. I want to know, datgummit, why the people running for the highest office in the land didn't cover their head with an American flag baseball cap to express to the nation their love and affection for the U.S. of A.

Since it is clear that our nation is paralyzed and so not able to close our borders, feed the homeless, develop businesses in the inner cities and save people from having their homes taken by foreclosure due to ruthless mortgage companies, all because some folks don't wear a flag lapel pin, we need to lead a national movement to demand that Congress and the states make requiring officeholders to wear a flag lapel pin the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

See, if it is so important, then take it all the way. Don't make it optional. Don't leave it up to someone to choose to wear a flag lapel pin. Let's really show those politicians that nothing is more important to us than seeing them with the U.S. flag on our chest.

That's what zealots do. They take something so simple, so personal, so voluntary, and absolutely lose their mind, trying to force someone else to do as them, and everyone else be damned.

Folks, the first year I ever cast a ballot for political office was in 1988. And in the last 20 years, whether it was mayoral, school board, city council, or a statewide, congressional or presidential campaign, the thought of what was on a politician's lapel never entered into the equation as to whether they are worthy of office.

Those who will criticize me will say, "Well, Roland, if it's no big deal, then why not wear one?" And the reply is the same: "If it's no big deal, then why do you make it a big deal?"

Let me tell you something: When I'm on the golf course and I slip my wedding ring into my golf bag, the Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin is still my wife. When we shoot hoops and I remove my Texas A&M University ring from my right hand, I still love my school. The fact that I can no longer wear my 1987 class ring from Houston's Jack Yates High School doesn't mean I don't cherish the crimson and gold. And I may not be able to fit into the shirt I pledged in, but I will be a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. until the day I die.

I am an unapologetic Christian, but you won't see a cross dangling from my neck or a James Avery charm bracelet on my wrist. Why? Because my love of Jesus Christ is in my heart.

This debate is useless, tiresome and distracting. Why? Because if there are members of Congress who wear a flag lapel pin but refuse to shore up our borders, don't do enough to stop the flow of drugs into our neighborhoods, or don't help to eradicate the gaps between the haves and have nots, then are they truly fighting for the concerns of Americans, or playing on the emotions of people by what's on their lapel?

We're better than that. We're smarter than that. It's time that we make decisions based on substance, which is what we say we actually care about. But maybe we're just lying to ourselves about that, too.

Roland S. Martin is a nationally award-winning journalist and CNN contributor. Martin is studying to receive his master's degree in Christian communications at Louisiana Baptist University.You can read more of his columns at http://www.rolandsmartin.com/

Tender Vitters

Mar 19, 2008
1 comment

Sean reports...

An interesting article from Louisiana's The Independent Weekly about the double standard concerning prostitutes and politicians that you all might find interesting concerning U.S. Senator David Vitter and his troubles with the DC Madam case...

By Scott Jordan
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
I had just taken the burgers off the grill and my family was sitting down to dinner when the phone rang. I told my wife that unless it was an emergency, tell whoever it was that we’d call them back. She answered the phone and told me, “It’s David Vitter.” It was one of U.S. Sen. Vitter’s “telephone town hall conferences.” These outreach efforts have become increasingly popular with legislators in recent years; according to a recent Politico story, Washington, D.C.-based company TeleTownHall pioneered the technology in 2005 and has since facilitated more than 1,000 of the phone meetings. For a recent telephone-town-hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, Politico noted that more than 37,000 local phone numbers and households were dialed to invite participation. (Several hundred people often wind up listening in and/or participating.) So it isn’t hard to see how Vitter unwittingly called the home of a newspaper editor. Since 2006, Vitter’s regularly held these phone question-and-answer sessions with voters. “He also tries to focus the call around a particular subject but will answer questions that someone may have on other topics as he would in his formal town hall meetings,” Vitter’s Communications Director Joel DiGrado recently told the Bossier Press-Tribune. I figured my burger could wait and I’d see if I could participate in this telephone town hall conference, which focused on immigration issues. The way it works is you press the number zero on your phone if you want to ask a question, and you’re placed in a waiting line. About 20 minutes went by as I listened to Vitter field questions from other callers, and then a woman got on the line with me. She asked if I had a question for Sen. Vitter. Yes, I did, I replied. She asked what it was about, and I told her H2B workers. Another 15 minutes or so went by when an automated message told me I was next in line to speak. As Vitter finished answering a question, he said, “Now we go to the Jordan household in Carencro.” I asked him if he supported the legislation that Congressman Charles Boustany is working on to raise the cap on temporary H2B workers to help local businesses like seafood processors who are experiencing a labor shortage. Vitter noted that he is in favor of using legal H2B workers and pointed out that Boustany isn’t trying to raise the cap but working to restore H2B numbers to last year’s levels. Then I asked a second question. “New York Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer just resigned today after it was revealed that he had an affair with a prostitute,” I said. “I also just read an editorial in the Ouchita Citizen today that noted if Spitzer resigns, you should resign also over your past transgression. How do you respond to people who say that there’s a double standard at work here?” (Somewhere toward the end of asking the question, an automated message informed me that I was now in “listen-only mode.”) “I made a very serious mistake a long time ago, and I have to live with that every day,” Vitter replied. He sounded genuine and contrite. “That’s not a flippant statement. I need to spend my whole life making up for that.” Then his tone turned a bit defiant. “Anybody who looks at the two cases will see that there is an enormous difference between the two of them,” he said. “The people that are trying to draw comparisons to the two cases are people who’ve never agreed with me on important issues like immigration and other things.” He then moved on to the next caller. The second half of Vitter’s answer shows that his hypocrisy still knows no bounds. It was bad enough that he painted himself as a family-values crusader before his phone number showed up multiple times in the phone records of Washington, D.C. madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey — all during the time period when he was serving as a state representative. Since that link to prostitutes became public, Vitter made an apologetic statement last June with his wife by his side but has refused to answer any questions about the scandal. And how Vitter spent taxpayers’ time and money is a question that Louisiana citizens deserve answered. His continued stonewalling and diminished clout in Congress continues to be an embarrassment to his constituents and the state Republican Party — not to mention a thorn in the side of Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal. When word of Spitzer’s prostitute tryst became public, the Republican Governor’s Association — of which Jindal is an executive committee member — immediately called for Spitzer’s resignation. But Jindal apparently thinks that Vitter’s involvement with a prostitution ring is different — so much so that our governor recently co-hosted a fund raiser for Vitter that took in more than $400,000. With Jindal’s promising and largely successful start to his tenure and his repeated pledge to improve Louisiana’s image, his continued embrace of Vitter leaves an unflattering impression of a politician that puts party loyalty above one of his most important campaign pledges. Ouchita Citizen Publisher Sam Hanna Jr. isn’t the only one asking Vitter to resign. In the last week alone, conservative columnists Chistopher Tidmore of Louisiana Weekly and Ringside Politics commentator Jeff Crouere, along with longtime New Orleans political commentator and Gambit Weekly publisher and editor Clancy Dubos, have all publicly called for Vitter to step aside for the good of Louisiana. I agree with them — but given Vitter’s pattern of stubborn denial, I won’t hold my breath. The moral of this story? If a politician calls your house, don’t hang up — because the conversation can be very enlightening.