1980's all over again.
As a farm broadcaster, I spend a good deal of time visiting with farmers, agri-business groups, ag lenders, etc. And one thing I'm hearing from some farmers is that "it's looking like the early 80's all over again." Higher interest rates, tougher to make things cash flow, rising production costs, etc. And we all know what happened in the mid 80's with farms. Auctioneers were kept plenty busy. But that is a subject for another day.
I was driving back from Des Moines yesterday after attending the World Pork Expo, and I was thinking about that whole issue of "it looks like the early 80's." As I scanned through the radio stations, a right wing talk show host was blathering on about America needing a flag burning ammendment. Sound familiar? Well it did to me too. And I thought to myself, this is like the late 80's all over again!
In 1989, my high school buddies, Chad Wehrle, Gary Nichols, and I were able to attend a Washington D.C. leadership conference through our FFA chapter. And one of the things we attended was a speech by President George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole in front of the Iwo Jima memorial. They were trying to drum up support for a flag burning ammendment. I suppose the President's poll numbers must have been down and he needed an issue to appeal to our sense of pride and patriotism. (obviously didn't work, as he was beaten by Bill Clinton in the next election. But I digress)
And now the subject is coming up again. There are indications that the U.S. Congress is going to bring the issue up for debate. Even Hillary Clinton is on board. And my feelings on this are kind of like they are with the gay marriage ammendment. Does this mean we have stabilized Iraq? Is health care available and affordable for every citizen? Are our ports and borders secure? Are we ready for the next Katrina? Has our dependence on foreign oil evaporated? Has global warming been halted? Has poverty and unemployment been taken care of? If so, it's news to me. Either that or flag burning has reached epidemic proportions and is endangering the lives of millions of Americans and must be immediately addressed while those other issues wait.
In June of 1944, my grandfather would have loved to have been taking a walk on Wyalusing Beach with his one-year-old boy. Uncle Sam understood his desire to walk on a beach and tried to comply. But they got the logistics a bit fouled up and instead of Wyalusing Beach in Bagley, Wisconsin, they had him walk up Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. He made it home and lived his life as a devoted father, grandfather, and community servant. I remember talking to him about my trip to Washington and I asked him about flag burning. And he really didn't care about it one way or the other. He made mention that on Christmas morning during the Battle of the Bulge, he had to make arrangements for the burial of 26 truckloads of frozen, dead G.I.'s who were stacked up like cordwood. So flag burning was to him a trivial thing compared to the bigger issues. And then he proceeded to ask about the people we met from across the country and how their crops were coming along. So when a decorated veteran of World War II cared more about the soybean crop in Arkansas than whether or not some idiot should have the right to burn a flag, that made an impression on me and I still hold it today.
So when it comes to flag burning: If you want to burn a flag, knock yourself out. I hope your shirt catches on fire while you're doing it and you suffer burns to your flesh. It was probably made in China anyway, so all you are doing by buying a flag to burn is increasing our trade deficit with China. But if you're that stupid, knock yourself out, because no matter how many flags you burn, YOU WILL NOT, IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, CHANGE MY BELIEFS ABOUT THIS GREAT COUNTRY OF MINE. NOT TODAY. NOT TOMORROW. NOT EVER! I don't need a flag burning ammendment to protect my internal beliefs. Veterans like my Grandpa and people like my Mom and Dad instilled in me what it is to be an American, and no flag burner can take that away from me.
And on the flip side of that, you can thump your chest, cloak yourself in the flag, use it to sell records, and accuse those that don't of being communist heathens and it won't change my beliefs. You're probably improperly displaying the flag anyway. And again, it was probably made in China, so if you need an ammendment to keep it from being burned to prove your patriotism you better make damn sure that ammendment also requires any American flag to be MADE IN AMERICA.
I detest seeing our flag burned. I am against it. And I am insulted when it happens. But that's what freedom is all about. There are a lot of things insulting to me that others have the right to do. There are things I do that are insulting to others. But I'm free to do them.
Love of family, love of state, and love of country comes from inside of us in varying degrees. It can't be legislated, it can't be forced, and it can't be taken away. It's inside of us. And we need to use it to its fullest potential to make our communities a better place. We need to use it to make ourselves a better person and help others to be a better person. We do that by worrying about the issues that give our communities strength and prosperity such as public schools, medical coverage, good jobs, taking care of our elderly and our veterans. We don't do it by inventing problems that don't exist and arguing about them to distract us from the truly imperative issues of the day.
I was driving back from Des Moines yesterday after attending the World Pork Expo, and I was thinking about that whole issue of "it looks like the early 80's." As I scanned through the radio stations, a right wing talk show host was blathering on about America needing a flag burning ammendment. Sound familiar? Well it did to me too. And I thought to myself, this is like the late 80's all over again!
In 1989, my high school buddies, Chad Wehrle, Gary Nichols, and I were able to attend a Washington D.C. leadership conference through our FFA chapter. And one of the things we attended was a speech by President George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole in front of the Iwo Jima memorial. They were trying to drum up support for a flag burning ammendment. I suppose the President's poll numbers must have been down and he needed an issue to appeal to our sense of pride and patriotism. (obviously didn't work, as he was beaten by Bill Clinton in the next election. But I digress)
And now the subject is coming up again. There are indications that the U.S. Congress is going to bring the issue up for debate. Even Hillary Clinton is on board. And my feelings on this are kind of like they are with the gay marriage ammendment. Does this mean we have stabilized Iraq? Is health care available and affordable for every citizen? Are our ports and borders secure? Are we ready for the next Katrina? Has our dependence on foreign oil evaporated? Has global warming been halted? Has poverty and unemployment been taken care of? If so, it's news to me. Either that or flag burning has reached epidemic proportions and is endangering the lives of millions of Americans and must be immediately addressed while those other issues wait.
In June of 1944, my grandfather would have loved to have been taking a walk on Wyalusing Beach with his one-year-old boy. Uncle Sam understood his desire to walk on a beach and tried to comply. But they got the logistics a bit fouled up and instead of Wyalusing Beach in Bagley, Wisconsin, they had him walk up Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. He made it home and lived his life as a devoted father, grandfather, and community servant. I remember talking to him about my trip to Washington and I asked him about flag burning. And he really didn't care about it one way or the other. He made mention that on Christmas morning during the Battle of the Bulge, he had to make arrangements for the burial of 26 truckloads of frozen, dead G.I.'s who were stacked up like cordwood. So flag burning was to him a trivial thing compared to the bigger issues. And then he proceeded to ask about the people we met from across the country and how their crops were coming along. So when a decorated veteran of World War II cared more about the soybean crop in Arkansas than whether or not some idiot should have the right to burn a flag, that made an impression on me and I still hold it today.
So when it comes to flag burning: If you want to burn a flag, knock yourself out. I hope your shirt catches on fire while you're doing it and you suffer burns to your flesh. It was probably made in China anyway, so all you are doing by buying a flag to burn is increasing our trade deficit with China. But if you're that stupid, knock yourself out, because no matter how many flags you burn, YOU WILL NOT, IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, CHANGE MY BELIEFS ABOUT THIS GREAT COUNTRY OF MINE. NOT TODAY. NOT TOMORROW. NOT EVER! I don't need a flag burning ammendment to protect my internal beliefs. Veterans like my Grandpa and people like my Mom and Dad instilled in me what it is to be an American, and no flag burner can take that away from me.
And on the flip side of that, you can thump your chest, cloak yourself in the flag, use it to sell records, and accuse those that don't of being communist heathens and it won't change my beliefs. You're probably improperly displaying the flag anyway. And again, it was probably made in China, so if you need an ammendment to keep it from being burned to prove your patriotism you better make damn sure that ammendment also requires any American flag to be MADE IN AMERICA.
I detest seeing our flag burned. I am against it. And I am insulted when it happens. But that's what freedom is all about. There are a lot of things insulting to me that others have the right to do. There are things I do that are insulting to others. But I'm free to do them.
Love of family, love of state, and love of country comes from inside of us in varying degrees. It can't be legislated, it can't be forced, and it can't be taken away. It's inside of us. And we need to use it to its fullest potential to make our communities a better place. We need to use it to make ourselves a better person and help others to be a better person. We do that by worrying about the issues that give our communities strength and prosperity such as public schools, medical coverage, good jobs, taking care of our elderly and our veterans. We don't do it by inventing problems that don't exist and arguing about them to distract us from the truly imperative issues of the day.
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