The flag

You look so tired-unhappy,
bring down the government,
they don't, they don't speak for us. ~ Radiohead, No Surprises

Jon Lilyea over at This ain't Hell and others have accurately observed the victory of Obama is now an occasion for those who flew the flag upside down or refused to fly one at all the opportunity to be proud to be an American again.

The election of Obama is not going to be an occasion for me to go out and buy a (cheaply made Chinese) American flag. Because the flag still stands as an empty symbol.

I know what the flag was supposed to represent: honor, courage, unity... But, at best, it's a thread-bare ghostly representation of those things. It is not those things in and of itself. The flag is not the people. The flag did not raise itself upon Suribachi, men did it. Those who continually drape themselves in the flag do so in order to invoke nationalistic feelings and to convince the people, the Nation as a whole stands behind their personal gratification, whims and desires.

I didn't fly a flag during the Clinton Regime, I didn't fly one during the Bush Junta and I won't fly one during Obama's Rule.