Normally I don’t comment on the comments my readers make, but I’m making an exception this week.
Chaz, a reader from Greenpoint said, “Thanks Jo. I always knew you were a sexy liberal.”
Well thank you very much Chaz from Greenpoint, but I’m no liberal. I am a staunch conservative that believes in the Constitution, the fundamental rights our Founding Fathers set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and, despite its flaws, this country, the good old United States of America — and the flag for which it stands.
Which is why I don’t believe in burning it.
The Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, whatever you want to call it, should be honored, pledged allegiance to and respected. I believe that our children should see it hanging in their classrooms, and that all those that sit in those seats should be taught its significance, and I believe it should hang from every pole in every public building from sea to shinning sea.
An article in our sister publication, The Brooklyn Paper, by reporter Allegra Hobbs, wrote about the flag burning in Fort Green Park and the group Disarm NYPD that promoted it. They initially planned to burn the Confederate flag but decided to toss in the American flag as well claiming it to be “… a modern-day symbol of oppression and racial violence.”
Hogwash Disarm NYPD! The flag of this country it is not a symbol of oppression or racial violence — it is a symbol of freedom. The freedom that allows the over-indulged, self-entitled, and cowardly — yes, cowardly, especially those who hide behind a face kerchief — to complain, to burn the flag, and to protest ’till the cows come home.
Nowhere else in this entire universe does any other country afford such freedoms and liberties as we enjoy here in America — it is why our shores are teaming with immigrants who yearn to be free and who risk life and limb to get here.
Do these numbskulls see people clamoring to get into Afghanistan, Iran, or Iraq? And even closer to our shores, how about Mexico? No, those individuals risk everything to come here — because of our freedom, and the entitlements we have fought so hard for.
Not for Nuthin,™ Old Glory represents the freedom to change adversity to success, prejudice to acceptance, poverty to prosperity, and yes, even your right to burn it.
So members of Disarm NYPD, you can leave anytime, the door is open. But wherever you go, I recommend that you not attempt to burn their flags, because they don’t have that freedom, and you won’t like the consequences.
