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It’s not that I’m not patriotic, it’s that that thing that should attract my patriotism is dead and has been replaced by something that’s un-American.
16 responses to “How I Feel”
My trajectory matches this almost exactly. Thanks for writing this, thought I was on an island!
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.
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.
You and me both Brother it’s kinda weird how similar we are…I’ve done a fireworks show for my family and friends since I was 18…
I’ve been a life long pyromaniac. I like the noise even more than the visuals. I’ve often said I’d do an entire show of reports, if I could get them. Unless I want to get an ATF license, I can’t buy/store/use 1.3 classed product, and I won’t have the ATF up my ass with a flashlight to get one. So, I content myself with 1.4 classed product and a pro grade firing system (Cobra) and do a show as much for my own enjoyment as for those who attend it.
I skipped doing a show last year, as many of those would normally attend were out of town. That just makes this years show even bigger due to having a lot of product already on hand. I figure I’ll continue to do shows for as long as I can afford to (fireworks, along with everything else, have gotten ever more costly), but chiefly for my own amusement. I certainly can’t say that doing a fireworks show is intended to celebrate freedom, liberty, and the American ideal any longer.
I think this year I’m going back to basics, though. No, or minimal, music during the fireworks. If I have any music at all, it will be devoid of the typical patriotic themed songs that are usually heard on the 4th. I may just do the 1812 Overture in its 15+ minute entirety. If anyone asks why I changed it up, I’ll have to decide if I want to give them the brutal, unvarnished truth.
Awesome Brother I can imagine what a show it would be if you were in my AO or I was in yours…
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.
“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!”
I’m sure those who made that are far to the left of Trump as I am to the right of him so we won’t ever see eye to eye except for how much we despise him…
You’re likely correct in your assumption, but at least we now have something in common with them (lol)!
Roth, I appreciate what you wrote in this post. It hits real close to home for me. Thank you!
I have not flown my American flag for years. Toward the end of the time that I did, it was displayed upside down, in keeping with the international sign of distress. In recent years I have daily, and exclusively, displayed the Missouri state flag.
I was the same as you with the public singing of the Star Spangled Banner…only it was at baseball games, not football.
My observance of the July 4th holiday has changed dramatically over the years:
When I was a young man, (many decades ago), I took Independence Day very seriously. Annually, I would privately read the entire Constitution early in the day. Later in the day I would read the Declaration of Independence just before the fireworks, sometimes out loud, to keep the celebration in proper context. I was critical of people who experienced the fireworks “as a celebration of the senses, without any sense of what they are celebrating.”
This year, as in all recent years, I will be setting off fireworks, but it will not be in celebration of the FUSA. The Constitutional Republic that once was “These United States of America” is dead and gone. It has long been a captured and fallen operation. The masquerade that remains has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
This July 4th, as others in recent years, will be melancholy for me compared to the July 4ths of yesteryear when I was a great deal younger…and perhaps a great deal more naive.
I can share in that take. At this stage, I tend to think of shooting off fireworks more as a protest against all the things this bastardized government has become. And it is now also symbolic of the “other things” we will eventually be shooting, in order to take back what is rightfully ours.
I replaced the US flag with the Third National Confederate flag. I’ve been flying the Bennington flag beneath it on July 4th in prior years. Not this year …
Have had my American flag in storage since obama was elected. Did fly a Gadsen flag for a short time years back, but the decided I’d rather keep a low profile and not paint a target on my back with such displays of insolence. Not much point in public spectacle, and those who know me well know exactly where I stand, so I don’t need to do any overt signalling to them.
Wife and I had generally the same conversation yesterday. There should be a big military parade, some fireworks and that’s about it. Instead, we are getting a big Trump commercial enterprise, complete with tons of merch for Americans to waste their money on.
I’m not feeling it.
How much would you care to bet most of said merchandise (read: junk) will be made in China?