There are Americans – lots of em – who genuinely believe that Patriotism means you wave a flag at every opportunity and scream at people who don’t wave flags cause they’re being ‘unpatriotic’.  They think the bigger the flag on their front lawn, the more patriotic they are.

These are the same mooks who think if they buy a big enough cross to wear, it will magically make all their sins less sinful.

I bet if you walked up to these fine people, took out a copy of the Constitution and burned it in front of them, they’d stare at you like you were insane.  Why the hell would go and burn an old piece of paper?  What’d it ever do to you?

That’s the problem.  The American Flag is lovely and all.  But it’s just a flag — a piece of cloth that we have ‘imbued’ with symbolic value.  In and of itself — it’s JUST A PIECE OF CLOTH and the symbols on it open to interpretation.  Want to know how many countries have flags?  ALL OF EM.

Want know how many countries have United States Constitutions?  Precisely one:  US.  That Constitution was the remarkable achievement coming out of the American Revolution — not the flag that represented it or the country.   Anyone who thinks we send soldiers out to die for a piece of cloth is an idiot.  We send them out to die (if we must) to DEFEND THE IDEALS enumerated in the Constitution.

Ink & fabric, no.  “All Men Are Created Equal”, yes.

If we REALLY wanted to celebrate the country at an NFL game, we’d hold up a copy of the thing that MAKES us special — the thing that actually COMPELS people still to come here and seek the American Dream — NOT the flag, the United States Constitution.

But, as we know, the thing we’re discussing isn’t actually kneeling or respecting the flag.  It’s not even really about Patriotism.  It’s about RACISM — and White, Christian Male Privilege.

Hell — I can see their flag from here — flapping in the breeze.