How much longer WILL Dem officeholders feel they HAVE to wear those $*%&^#@ FLAG PINS!

[Ken Burch]

OK...after 9/11, it made sense that they'd wear 'em-most people did, at that stage.

Even during the Iraq War, a case could sort of be made for it.

But ELEVEN years later?

When we're even on the way OUT of Afghanistan?

When there's no longer ANY real threat to this country?

When there's no possible reason for anybody to DEMAND that our officeholders prove that...well... that they're loyal to this country, over and over and over again?

Do any of the rest of you think "ENOUGH already with the pins"?

Can't our party, at least, leave the pin fetish to the 'pugs and admit that the country has moved on from 9/11?

(No, this isn't the single biggest issue out there...but it isn't something that really HAS to go on for any particular reason.)

[Ken Burch]

1. Remember folks, it was NIXON who started the flag pin thing.

He used it as a "fuck you, hippies!" gesture...and anytime you saw one of his appointees wearing a flag pin with that arrogant, Teutonic look on his face, you knew the guy was weeks away from getting indicted.

It's time to stop tying ourselves to something that has always been an arrogant, spiteful right-wing way of saying "We're Americans and YOU aren't".

[OldDem2012]

40. Quotes from "A Brief History of the Flag Lapel Pin"....

According to Stephen E. Ambrose's biography Nixon, the President got the idea for sporting a lapel pin from his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, who had noticed a similar gesture in the Robert Redford film The Candidate. Nixon commanded all of his aides to go and do likewise.

....and previously in the article which, as an amateur historian, I found to be very interesting....

The origin of the flag lapel pin is murky, though it is by necessity linked the history of the American flag as a commonly used symbol. According to Marc Leepson's Flag: An American Biography, the "near religious reverence many Americans have" for our national symbol dates only to the Civil War era (not back to the Revolutionary War, as many assume) . Prior to that, few private citizens possessed or flew their own flags — it was limited to military and federal facilities. When the Confederates started winning battles early on in the War Between the States, Northerners began to fly the flag as a sign of pride.

Since then, flag imagery has been intricately tied to moments of crisis or conflict. Over the past four decades, Kit Hinrichs, one of the nation's top graphic designers, has collected more than 5,000 pieces of stars and stripes–related memorabilia. He says the flag lapel pins in his collection don't really date back before mid-century. "I don't think it was a common thing for men and women to wear before the Second World War," he says. "I certainly have jewelry from before then with flags on it — cufflinks and stick pins and tuxedo buttons and brooches — but not [many flag pins] before the '50s."

More at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1820023,00.html

[bluedigger]

2. Until China stops making them.

[Tx4obama]

3. Romney did NOT wear his flag pin today when he went to White House to lunch with Pres Obama

Photo here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021903719

[Hekate]

4. When we stop calling our nation "The Homeland" and go back to "nation" or "country"

[DakotaLady]

5. American flags on ...

automobiles ... I'd like to see that go away as well.

[Aristus]

21. Yes. The perpetually dirty, tattered, ragged American flags that deserve better.

I agree with you.

Welcome to DU, DakotaLady!

Do you live in one of the Dakota states, or the Dakota apartment building in New York?

[DakotaLady]

33. Dodge Dakota 4X4

I drove my Dakota 4X4 in and around the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Thank you for the welcome ...

[Aristus]

34. Okay, I guess I goofed that one...

Anyway, good to have you here!

[PoliticalBiker]

36. Dakota 4x2... 165,000 miles

showing her age tho... michigan weather

Welcome to DU!

[MrYikes]

6. and Gawd Bess Uhmerika

[LeftofObama]

7. Two quotes come to mind...

1. "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

2. "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."

[a kennedy]

10. Love these.....

thanks for posting....and isn't that the truth.

[OldDem2012]

42. To back up your quotes, look at the early pictures and movies of the Nazi Party in Germany....

....and you'll see that the swastika flag played a huge role in how they sold themselves to the German people. The pageantry and patriotism of the Nazi Party appealed greatly to a population desperately looking for a way out of their financial woes.

Additionally, the Nazi Party made a big deal about being allied with the Catholic Church. On March 23, 1933, Hitler addressed the Reichstag and stated that the Christian belief was the "unshakeable foundation of the moral and ethical life of our people". On March 24, 1933, Hitler was granted dictatorial powers by the German parliament through the Enabling Act, with the Catholic Center Party headed by Prelate Ludwig Kaas casting the deciding votes.

It's just my opinion, but it doesn't take much of an imagination to see how closely we came to moving to a fascist form of government had the Republicans won the 2012 election.

[RandiFan1290]

8. As long as they as subservient to the republican party

and the rebpublican media

[kooljerk666]

9. If I see those on any lapel I dismiss the bearer..

instantly.

All it sez to me is Thief/Liar/War Profiteer/MASS MURDER/ WARCRIMINAL.............

[Nye Bevan]

18. Always?

[kooljerk666]

25. almost always..........

It has been cheapened, in my eyes...........

[DCKit]

11. I think there's an RFID chip in there. nt

[unhappycamper]

12. What's that red dot on the flag pin that repubs wear?

Is it the Rising Sun or is it a symbol of their willingness to shed blood for their plutocrats/owners?

[pinboy3niner]

13. I think it represents their perception of the permanent terror alert level

It's always red: DefCon 1. But your theory is as good as mine.

[BanTheGOP]

14. Personally, there should only be ONE flag we should ALL wear...

The UN Flag. Now THAT I would support wholeheartedly!



All democrats should wear such a pin to show not just our solidarity with progressive values but our goal to eliiminate capitalism, which is more represented by the US flag.

[Ken Burch]

17. I'd be down with that.

n/t.

[Arugula Latte]

27. I like this one, too:

[leftynyc]

39. Since when are Democrats against capitalism?

Do you honestly think that a majority of Democrats are against capitalism? And if I wont pledge allegiance to a scrap of paper representing my own country, why would I pledge allegiance to the UN?

[BanTheGOP]

44. Capitalism results in unfair wage discrepencies

Capitalism results in unfair wage discrencies that creates greater poverty with fewer uberrich republicanist bastards. And that "pledge" you take results in feeling superior to other people strictly by the piece of land you eat and shit on, NOT their ethnicity and progressive intent. The UN represents ALL people, and that is far preferable than segregated republican-military-industrial mind numbed "country first" stupor.

[leftynyc]

47. Try reading a little closer, especially

if you're going to go all self righteous. I clearly stated I DON'T pledge loyalty to any scrap of fabric. And the UN stopped representing ALL people decades ago.

[undeterred]

15. Are you ANTI-FLAG now too???!!!

Sorry, I just felt like doing that.

[Ken Burch]

16. Anti-pin, actually.

If they wore actual full-sized flags sewn to their lapels, that'd be weird...but I'd be ok with it.

[amandabeech]

19. Does anyone else remember lapel pins that were inscribed (in teeny-tiny letters)

with the first few words of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution? I liked those.

I also wish that all of us would go back to contributing to veterans' charities over Memorial Day weekend or around Veterans Day (actually the WWI Armistice Day) by buying those little paper poppy lapel flowers. When I watch British, Canadian, Ozzie and Kiwi TV or news stories around Veterans-Armistice day everyone on camera is wearing a poppy.

I remember selling them in the itty bitty downtown of my hometown. My Dad, a WWII vet got me and my friend (who's dad was also a WWII vet--both Navy) to do it. Here in the US the poppies stand not only for WWI (where soldiers fought in the poppy fields of France) but for soldiers who fought in all our wars. It's not much of a contribution, but these things add up, and wearing the poppy (I usually attach mine to my handbag) is a way to say to our vets, "We're thinking of you."

As to the little flags--I can take them or leave them. They don't upset me. I do like to see politicians put their hand over their hearts (or if a veteran, a salute if that's appropriate) when our national anthem is played. I think that it is a good thing for Dems to do. It helps dispel the myths that we don't want to do what's right for our country, and it keeps the pukes for using photos to denigrate our candidates. Recall that photo taken at the Harkin steak fry with Obama, Bill Richardson, Hillary and Ruth Harkin, the Senator's wife. All but Obama had their hand over their heart. Obama held his hands together low on his torso. I don't care that he didn't do the heart thing, but it gave a lot of ammo to the pukes. The photo said all kinds of things that weren't meant and that we didn't need.

[LukeFL]

20. Why does it bother you that much?

I personally think they look cute on the President. And it's patriotic.

[Ken Burch]

22. Because it's been made into an obligation

And no one should ever have been made to feel that the HAD to wear one.

Also, there's the Nixon era thing...where the flag pin was about saying "I'm American and you're not".

The pin has too many arrogant, exclusivist associations for me...and from the responses in this thread, I'm not alone on that.

[LukeFL]

23. Made to? Have you been forced to?

I am sure the president likes wearing it. I don't thnk he has been made to ir forced to.

[Ken Burch]

24. I haven't been forced...but I'm not a holder of elective office.

Nobody should have to PROVE they are loyal to the country on a daily basis...including the people who help govern it.

That and there's something disturbing about making patriotism into a fetishization of a symbol...rather than something that's shown by the things a person does to make life better in the country where she or he lives.

[dballance]

28. I doubt the President dislikes wearing it BUT,

It has been made into an obligation to prove your patriotism. Just like when there was the uproar on the net because the President wasn't holding his hand over his heart at some event where the national anthem was played. No where in the Constitution or in any statutes is that a requirement. It's another show of BS symbolism by the people who always seem to be more concerned with the symbolism than with doing anything productive.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

32. Yes, "made to"! If you don't wear it, you aren't a patriot, as far as RWNJs are concerned. eom

[ReasonableToo]

41. exactly

[Recursion]

26. Is it beyond imagination that they might like wearing them? (nt)

[L0oniX]

29. A skull and cross bones pin might be more appropriate?

[lbrtbell]

30. It's our flag, too

Republicans think they have exclusive rights to the Stars and Stripes. Every time a Democrat wears a flag pin, it's a nice "Fuck you!" to every Repuke who thinks he/she owns our flag.

[PoliticalBiker]

43. I am a veteran...

The flag is important to me, but I agree the right seems to think they have exclusive providence over it.
POTUS wears a lapel pin flag. I have no issues with it.
What I do have issues with is the way the right wrap themselves in it while they take away freedoms, services and benefits from the majority of Americans.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

31. "Patriotism is the most foolish of passions, and the passion of fools." Schopenhauer

[LynneSin]

35. Does it really matter anymore?

Most of them probably have a flag pin on each lapel. I just think there are bigger rants out there than a flag pin.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

37. I don't fret over it either way...

It reminds me of what country we're living in when we do egregious things like crawl over a disabled man in his wheelchair to vote against others like him.

[lonestarnot]

38. There are still chinese yellow ribbons sported around on goofy peoples' cars.

Creepy nationalism.

[democrattotheend]

45. I am happy to see them wear flag pins

I feel very strongly about taking back the flag from the right. The flag is for all Americans, and the right wing does not have a monopoly on it.

[OldDem2012]

48. That's my opinion as well. The GOP loses a talking point when Dems wear it too.....

...it's all about how US public perception is managed.

[democrattotheend]

49. It's not just that

I feel strongly that the flag is an American symbol and not a right wing symbol. So I don't want them to have a monopoly on it.

[forestpath]

46. Agreed. I find it such a meaningless cliché.