(From an e-mail to a friend, 6/24/13)
I no longer fly the American flag nor recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I even refuse to stand while it is being recited. (I get a lot of hateful glares!) Given the essence of Article VI, my sole allegiance is to the Constitution of the United States, as amended, as I swore some 40 years ago (October 6, 1973, Va. Supreme Court). That is the only general oath or "pledge" I shall ever take.
The flag is a mere "graven image" that means whatever the particular displayer wishes it to mean, or it means whatever those who have been crushed by it take it to mean, e.g., all the hapless dead folks at Ngo Gun Ri, Wounded Knee, My Lai, Iraq, etc., and like the Japanese-Americans who were summarily stripped of their property and herded into concentration camps during WWII.
It is well to note that Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, Jefferson Davis, et als, were all graduates of West Point and had sworn as incoming cadets and as US military officers to "defend the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic...." I recognize their right to resign their US military commissions rather than to take up arms against their states, but I do not understand their further taking up of arms AGAINST the US, they supposedly being men of honor. There were ONLY two days between Robert E. Lee resigning his US military commission and his acceptance of command of the Army of Northern Virginia! Many assert that his US oaths died when he resigned his US commission, but I believe that oaths stick with one for life, which is why they should not be taken lightly or carelessly. I think every rebel who was once a former US military officer was a traitor! However, I think it was wise of Grant and Lincoln to not punish them as such.
I am obliged to acknowledge and defend the rights of those who wish to display the flag (ANY flag, including the Nazi flag!), but for myself I swear my loyalties to IDEAS, not "things." I find it interesting that so many armchair patriots want to punish those who would burn the flag in a spirit of protest but who would honor those who would burn the flag to "properly" dispose of it! The irony that the same identical act is differentiated ONLY by the mere internal intent of the person performing the act is lost on most. That amounts to punishment of a "thought" crime in my view, which is why I am opposed to codifying or differentiating criminal offenses based solely on the perp's internal state of mind, like "hate" crimes. Are not all crimes "hate" crimes? Is beating a black person or homosexual or Jew any worse, really, than beating a hetero "WASP"? (I remember a deceased friend who used to assert that "WASP" was redundant, since there are no Anglo-Saxons who are not "white," so they really should be identified instead by the most suitable acronym of "ASP"!)
I also remember that some time ago, some folks tried to get people in downtown Richmond to sign a short-form expression of the Bill of Rights manifest as a petition, and they could not get any signatures! It is really sad how so few people are cognizant of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but they would readily beat the shit out of anyone who would "de-sacrate" THE flag! Would throwing away or burning envelopes with canceled flag stamps constitute "desecration"? What constitutes a "flag" to be protected by law? What about modifying a digital photo of the flag with offensive graphics, or even deleting it? Would printing it out make a difference? What if it was attached to an e-mail and sent to a recipient who became offended? The Supremes were divided 5-4 to strike down the law providing criminal punishment for "desecration"! ONE vote would have changed the course of history! Two of the four dissenters are STILL on the Court, Scalia and Thomas as I recall.
Many years ago I decided to instead fly the "Gadsden Flag" (the yellow "Don't Tread On Me" rattlesnake flag) from time to time. It has since been taken up by the "tea-baggers," so now I can't stand to fly that flag anymore! I was proud of that flag. Several years ago I carried it to the "March on Washington" in support of women's "right to choose" their own birth control methods, and even wound up on national TV!
I think it is telling that the Founders did not include a flag pledge (there was no flag to pledge to at the time, the "Betsy Ross" legend being but apocryphal), but they presciently provided in Article VI that all public-office-holders need pledge only to "support" the Constitution, much as Moses clarified that Yahweh was not to be shackled or confined as a "thing" (graven image) by the mere imagination of mankind. Thus, the Constitution is THE supreme law of the land, and so it should be. You will note that there is no empowerment of the Executive Branch in Article II to keep secrets from the citizens under criminal penalty of law, and no provision in Article III allowing the government to direct that courts refuse to hear actions where the interest of "national security" is merely invoked. But, the Supremes have utterly fabricated such empowerments, and they get the last word. But for the unlawful imperialistic machinations over the years by those in the Executive Branch, most such secrets would not really be necessary!
If someone (like myself) were suddenly "rendered" to some secret base in Romania, who would possibly know the whereabouts? How do we know such stuff is NOT going on? Whom should we trust?
Remember General Westmoreland's inflated Viet Cong body counts? "The Trickster's" many denials during Watergate?
I have totally lost trust in our govt. I now refuse to believe ANYTHING said about such matters! THAT is sad!
Yet, I will NEVER abandon my oath to support the US Constitution and its guarantee of fundamental liberties! Even if I wind up living in another country!
