The Fourth as I Knew It

pstrong /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/403/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Andres Hernandez /p pHere we are once again celebrating the Fourth of July and I am in receipt of a letter from my representative, Rod Blagojevich (D-IL). I wrote him recently about an amendment that passed in the 106th Congress that protects the U. S. flag from desecration, one I oppose from the viewpoints of both a veteran and citizen. Of course, the Congressman wrote how ìthousands upon thousands put their lives at risk to protect our freedomsÖthis is one way that their sacrifice should be honored.î/p pHow shocking, I thought, and how inappropriate that given the July 4th celebration I am lectured about the ìrespect and reverence for the Constitution.î Imagine today if Paine, Jefferson or Madison were alive how they would be treated as ìenemies of the stateî for speaking about individual rights, respect for the law, the need to agitate for change. Was this what they had envisioned centuries ago, that we would reduce ourselves to such narrow-sighted arguments?/p pWhat do many of our elected officials know about sacrifice? They inherited a political system of privilege won by a group of white, wealthy men from a privileged class who fought an unpopular civil war against a monarchy that wanted them to share the cost of protecting their privilege from enemies. In short, this minority won the right not to tax themselves by having the less privileged fight their bloody battles./p pAs time moved along, many were duped into taking up arms for the privileged elite in this country, to wipe out the people from the Indigenous Nations who were fighting off a foreign invasion, to protect a system of slavery, to keep down slave rebellions, union strikes and popular protests. At times they were called to duty to harass socialists, immigrants, leftists, anarchists, communists, community activists and labor and civil rights organizers. Others were called to duty to fight unjust wars of aggression and imperialism. These are the proud thousands who made the sacrifice. And I was one little cog in the big wheel of the military machinery./p pMy sacrifice was not intentional. It was not by choice. It was because I had no other options, like many thousands upon thousands. Many were conscripted, recruited forcefully, or made their way into the ranks through the poverty draft, as was my case. Many went because they were duped into believing we were fighting for god, country and flag, only to learn the truth after the fact. Many went because they were duped into believing that veterans would reap great benefits and the system would take care of us. /p pHonoring veterans has been a choice slogan for the power elite, a sound bite that echoes from the Halls of Monteczuma to the shores of Tripoli. How does our country honor its veterans? We build monuments, malls, statues and memorials. We rewrite history to rally the masses. We celebrate movies that show the heroics of movie stars who never even served in the armed forces. We have parades honoring veterans who make their way in wheelchairs and on crutches while we give our thanks./p pOf course, we simply debate increased military expenditures and the pros and cons of flag desecration. While politicians carry on the facade of democratic debate, thousands upon thousands of veterans are homeless, unemployed or undereducated. They suffer from drug and alcohol abuse and medical and physical ailments, all related to their service. Think for a moment of the thousands upon thousands who suffer from afflictions directly related to our use of weapons of mass destruction from nukes and mines to Agent Orange and DU armaments. Some were used indiscriminately against the ìenemyî while endangering civilian populations and our own troops, whom we were told to support by flag waving and tying yellow ribbons. /p pAnd what freedoms have we fought to protect? The freedom for corporations to have free reign both nationally and internationally? After all, it was once said, ìthe business of America is business.î Have we fought for a system of political privilege in the genre of Soviet bureaucratic capitalist cronies? A system in which there is no divergent choice for political opinions? Did we fight to preserve our right to bully other nations when we disagree with them? Did we not make sacrifices so that we could cherish the right to freedom of speech, press and opinion, whether the written word, the song lyrics or the act of defiance expresses it? /p pAnd what of the flag? It is but a mere piece of cloth, probably made in China nowadays, whose colors and symbolism represents just another worldwide gang fighting for money, power and territory. I use one as a jean patch that covers my ass. I have another hanging on my wall that is covered in protest stickers and buttons. Occasionally, they serve as a great way to fire up the grill on Fourth of July. It is my choice what I choose to do with my flag because I was one of thousands upon thousands who made a sacrifice. And what for?/p pIt was not my military service that liberated me. It was my exposure to new thinking thanks to political activists, leftist magazines and intellectuals and the thought provoking arguments from independent thinkers, writers, musicians and artists. It was these experiences which moved me in ways to exercise my rights and to fight for their protection./p pOn this Independence Day, I wish we would exercise independent thinking. Thousands upon thousands did not make the sacrifice. We were sacrificed by a system that left us out in the trenches and then abandoned us after it was done with us. No one listens to us. But everyone watches when you burn a flag. Go ahead, burn one, and hope that they listen, but more importantly that they understand. For we burn the Constitution and what it represents, if we allow the system to silence our right to desecrate the flag.br / .br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p