Rejecting the Concept of Patriotism

When the great Tao is forgotten, goodness and piety appear.

When the body's intelligence declines,
cleverness and knowledge step forth.

When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins.

When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born.

- Lao-Tzu

(Tao Te Ching 18)


Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
- Samuel Johnson

Rejecting the Pledge of Allegiance

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time,
thou shalt not forswear thyself,
but shalt perform unto the Lord thy oaths;
but I say unto you, swear not at all;
neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
nor by the earth; for it is His footstool:
neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.

Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,
because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

But let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay:
for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

- Matthew 6:33-37



They make their oaths a shelter,
and thus turn away from Allah's way;
surely evil is that which they do.

- Mohammed

(Koran, 63.2)

Rejecting the Nation's Symbol

They have turned aside quickly
out of the way which I commanded them:
they have made them a molten calf,
and have worshipped it,
and have sacrificed thereunto.

- Exodus 32:8



We know that an idol is nothing in the world,
and that there is no other God but one.

- 1 Corinthians 8:4



Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

- 1 John 5:21

Rejecting Pressures to Conform

Be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, word of God.

- Romans 12:2




Those who would give up essential liberty
to purchase a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.

- Benjamin Franklin




'Tis the time's plague
when madmen lead the blind.

- William Shakespeare




Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

- Howard Zinn

Rejecting the Confines of Capitalism

No man can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.

Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

- Matthew 6:24



When rich speculators prosper
while farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money
on weapons instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn
- all this is robbery and chaos.

- Lao-Tzu

(Tao Te Ching 53)

God As Both Good & Evil

I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil:
I the Lord do all these.

– Isaiah 45:7



We would never learn
to be brave or patient
if there were only joy in the world.

– Helen Keller

Rejecting the Ritual

When goodness is lost, there is morality.

When morality is lost, there is ritual.

Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos.

- Lao-Tzu

(Tao Te Ching 38)




And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men.

Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret;
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

- Matthew 6:5-6

Rejecting Religious Authority

When they lose their sense of awe,
people turn to religion.

When they no longer trust themselves,
they begin to depend upon authority.

- Lao-Tzu

(Tao Te Ching 72)

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

But your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

But your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore.

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore."

- John Prine

A Burning Question

Patriotism (according to William Collins Publishers’ version of Webster, anyway)
may be loosely defined as the “love and loyal or zealous support of one’s own country.”
I begin with this bland and rather clumsy definition not because I judge the reader a great buffoon
ignorant of the word’s meaning, but in an effort to introduce my feelings on the matter
under at least some pretense of objectivity.

It seems among family, friends and perhaps a half-dozen unsuspecting others I’ve been
frequently reminded of late that my own particularly prickly point of view paints me as one the
least patriotic sons of bitches any of them has yet had the dishonor of knowing on any kind of personal level.
The longer I’ve pondered this observation, the less reason I’ve found to argue with them.

If we're to trust the good folks at William Collins Publishers, a patriot, then, is a man or woman who,
whether loyally or zealously, truly loves his or her country.
Surely there’s no fault in that.

Loyalty's a virtue, after all: the “faithfulness or faithful adherence to a person, government, cause, duty, etc.”
True, there’s no mention of God or one’s own moral barometer in there, but that was probably just an innocent omission.
Zeal is likewise described by William Collins as “intense enthusiasm, as in working for a cause”.
Assemble the pieces and we’ve a male or female who may be accurately described as faithfully adhering to
or enthusiastically working for a cause of the government of a country for which he or she
has great affection and adoration.

If there’s one thing my infrequent monologues around the turkey carcass or beer tap have taught me,
it’s that the quandary of separating love of country from love of government remains an extremely divisive one.
Where some may equate true patriotism with the founding fathers’ struggle for independence from Britain,
others might point to the loyalists’ efforts to maintain the colonies’ allegiance to the crown,
and others still to the individual nations of Native Americans and their valiant battles against imperialist conquerors.
The question of just whose country it is in the first place rarely makes it to the table before someone excuses himself.

Unpopular though it is, my opinion holds that patriotism is a cultural dead end.
If the world’s religions teach us anything, it's the principal of universality: Recognize the divine spark in the other; put his interests before your own.
It’s a tough sell, but an infinitely wise one, I believe.

Whereas patriotism demands and rewards aggression and defense, violence and fear, bigotry and paranoia,
the progressive agnostic and conservative Jehovah’s Witness often share little in common
but their like disregard for misguided virtue, short-sighted greed and popular idolatry.
Unquestioning, blind allegiance to country (or anything else) leaves no room for compassion,
subjectivity or self-determination.

History teaches us that under such conditions did the great nations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Spain and Germany
follow victory, power and world domination with internal tumult, social rot and, ultimately, implosion.
Each had its share of patriots, monuments and symbols. Now many of these lie in ruin,
scattered to the world’s museums where they serve as broken reminders of omnipotent power gone bust.
I admit I used to be a sucker for that knd of stuff. My bedroom curtains were all flags and eagles,
my desk lamp a Liberty Bell.

Sharing Washington’s birthday and all, by fourth grade I'd read all about Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson
and the party in Boston where fake Indians vandalized the limey tea.
These days, I reject the Stars & Stripes as I would a golden calf.
I pledge allegiance to no one, choose not to stand for the National Anthem and refuse to swear,
with or without my hand on the Holy Bible.

Though unpopular, mine is a point of view that has been shared by others throughout the millennia.
Convinced to the end that my position is correct, I’ve developed a series of well-placed callouses
and learned to adapt to the outbursts, emotional debates and threats of physical violence that often result from my voicing it.
While this is not a particularly good time to be a non-patriot, I am determined to be as tenacious and stubborn as my neighbor.

It’s my sincere feeling that we as a nation were long overdue a 9/11. None of us is innocent.
Those are our own guns we're fighting.

A half-century after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, wasn’t the agonizing death
of 3,000 civilians just an extreme example of cosmic chickens coming home to roost?
Is the whole Support-Our-Troops fervor that’s swept our nation over the past couple years somehow ignorant
of the fact that every one of these soldiers volunteered to be shipped oversees to kill other human beings
for a nefarious cause in the first place? Far as I know, there’s no draft yet.
A mercenary is still a mercenary after all, no matter how scared and alone and masturbatory he feels on that desert late at night.

Sometimes you have to buckle down and try to remain confident that just because you’re in the minority
doesn’t mean you’re necessarily wrong.

Patriotism makes me angry. It makes me angry at my parents and my brother, my co-workers and peers.
It makes me angry that they are so utterly egotistical, self-centered and spoiled that they will willfully,
stubbornly, loyally and zealously defend and celebrate the mechanized cycle of greed, exploitation,
poverty and slaughter that benefits our gaudy elite.

I don’t enjoy getting angry. Like Bill Bixby, I don’t like what I become. It’s just gotten to the point where,
once prodded, I refuse to shut up. If you don’t like my answers, be careful what you ask.
After all, what is patriotism at heart but simply a shortcut to self-preservation?

Take your best shot.

I’m practicing my freedom here.

Soundtrack Now Available!

Just in time for the holidays, the official No Flag Soundtrack
is now available to the general public on convenient compact disc!

For those too chintzy to pay the shipping & handling costs
(or simply too anal to let the individual titles remain a mystery)
the playlist is as follows: