How I Feel

Over ten years ago I turned the American flag on the pole on our farm upside down to indicate the nation in distress. Then I took it down entirely. I used to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the top of my lungs at football games and felt that tingle of pride run up my spine. Then I gave up football games and singing the Anthem.

As the waste, fraud, corruption, the endless and meaningless wars of aggression became ever more visible, I lost all pride in the United States. As it became apparent that We the People were actually considered the enemy by our own government, that our freedoms were being abused and the Constitution ignored, voting an exercise in futility, I came to despise that government. Last year I attended a community celebration and sang a patriotic song. This year, a year that should be momentous, I’m not in the mood to celebrate. And won’t.

It’s not that I’m not patriotic, it’s that that thing that should attract my patriotism is dead and has been replaced by something that’s un-American.

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5 responses to “How I Feel”

  1. My trajectory matches this almost exactly. Thanks for writing this, thought I was on an island!

  2. I too vividly remember the moment I decided to take the flag down off the front of the house and put it in the closet.
    Like you, I am not un-patriotic. What our country has become, what it now represents, actually represents, not the facade, the false image our nation pretends it is, is NOT something I am proud of. I am ashamed of what our nation has become and want to see the traitors hanged.
    We are at that crossroad in history.

  3. Fully concur. I was too young to remember much of the bicentennial, but looking back on the events, and perceptible general feeling of the public, of 1976, the bicentennial was huge. It is already halfway through the year, and so far there seems to be no buzz, no excitement, no sense of anticipation or even talk of the FUSA’s 250th “birthday”. I think in hindsight, the death of the FUSA will probably eventually be determined to have been at a point well shy of it’s sesquicentennial, making any celebration of it rather pointless.

    Moreover, there is a palpable sense of discontent and anger; nobody appears to be in a celebratory mood – at least to my perception – and it really strikes me that the big 250 is going to be a big nothing, as things fizzle out. Oh, but I hear Trump is going to host a UFC fight at the Shite House. That seems somehow fitting, a disgusting spectacle of a couple of people beating the crap out of each other in hand to hand combat is pretty well emblematic of what this “country” is about now.

    I’m certainly not in a mood to celebrate this country now, given what it has degenerated into. I do a large fireworks show every year for family and friends, and will do so again this July 4th, but it will be done strictly for it’s own sake of enjoying the sight and sound of pyrotechnics blowing up. It certainly won’t be symbolic of American greatness, or out of any sense of patriotism.

    If I hadn’t already spent the funds to purchase the fireworks months ago, I’d probably not be doing a show this year. But then not everyone in my family is as sour on things as I’ve gotten (yet, anyway), so I also don’t want to disappoint them by not doing the show, which has become an annual tradition.

  4. Thank you for sharing your truth. I feel exactly the same way. I thought about hanging an upside down flag for the 250 year “ celebration” but changed my mind. I knew things were not good due to seeing all these wars the US was involved in. When Trump walked down the stairs in Trump Tower, I remember how off his speech sounded but I supported him. I was posting all sorts of American tribute song on FB which I left years ago. I voted for the bastard 10 years ago and haven’t voted since. I see where we are and what is coming. I know what hill to stand on. It ain’t pretty. I will not be celebrating this July 4. It’s over for me.

  5. “I lost all pride in the United States. As it became apparent that We the People were actually considered the enemy by our own government, that our freedoms were being abused and the Constitution ignored, voting an exercise in futility, I came to despise that government”

    “Welcome to the party, pal!”

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