Well, another July 4th has come and gone. I’m sorry to say that in the last few years I’ve looked forward to it less each year. It’s not that I don’t love my country – I do. I just think that we should be doing better. At this point, I’m gonna go out on a limb and reiterate that most of you should just stop reading now. If you don’t, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Part of my antipathy regarding the 4th comes from being the owner of a dog who is terrified by fireworks. If it was only the 4th, I could deal with it, but for the last several years, it seems like the 4th runs from mid-June to about the 10th of July. Ralph is an old dog, and we have to keep him more stoned than Cheech and Chong for about 3 weeks, Ralph doesn’t really enjoy getting out of his head – if dogs were political, Ralph would be a staunch conservative.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good fireworks display, but this yearly explodafest is just ridiculous. I mean, what’s the point? Does your willingness to blow shit up for an extended period of time somehow make you more patriotic than me? Or is it just another instance of our national conviction that more is always better (an attitude I also struggle with, particularly in regard to books and food)?

It seems to me that all this patriotism has gotten out of hand – or rather that actual patriotism is something we pay lip service to rather than actually living it. We’re big on displaying the flag. I had an old military friend who lives in Seattle tell me how he really liked how here in Indiana there are so many homes and businesses with American flags flying – apparently there’s not a lot of that where he lives.

In fact, there’s a nice big American flag, complete with solar-powered light so the flag can be seen even at night, at the end of my driveway -my driveway is on an easement, and the landowner is an old Marine. The thing is, I just don’t get it. I’ve lived overseas, and traveled quite a bit, and I don’t remember seeing anything like this flag obsession anywhere else. Everyone else in the world seems to know where they live without having to be constantly reminded, and I don’t believe that the British, Germans, Italians, Norwegians, Nigerians, Egyptians, South Africans, Mexicans, Canadians, etc. love their countries any less than we do ours. Here, it’s everywhere. On our houses, our cars, our car dealerships, our clothes, our tattoos – and I’m making allowance for military people’s tattoos. That’s a tradition I have no problem with.

I will admit that there are some instances where the flag thing might come in handy. Take, for example, the “Red Dawn” scenario that so many of us seem to be so looking forward to. It would be reassuring to the invaders to have such a glaring confirmation that they’ve invaded the right country. Conversely, if they were planning to invade Canada or Mexico, they’d be far more likely to realize their mistake before too much damage was done. They could just pack their gear back up, mumble “Excuse us, we must have taken a wrong turn,” and proceed peacefully to their intended target.

On the other hand, it seems like it could also work against us. Take all these immigrant “invasions”. It seems possible that, without all the visible confirmation that they have indeed reached the “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave”, they might just keep on going and accidentally “invade” Canada – since the U.S. is apparently so inconsequential that we have to constantly remind ourselves where we are. Just a thought.

Something else that troubles me is that so many of us can’t even manage to be consistent in our blatant patriomania. It’s not at all unusual to see people proudly displaying the American flag right alongside the flag of the greatest threat to our nation we’ve ever seen (for those of you who haven’t been keeping score, it’s the battle flag of the Confederacy). That one blows my mind, especially here in Indiana, given our state’s proud contributions to preserving the Union (of course, Indiana was also pretty much ground zero for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan back in the early 20th Century – that may be where the confusion comes in). Still, it seems odd that even people stupid enough to revere both flags can’t see the incongruity of it.

On a side note, in case there are any of those semi-neo-Confederates still reading who are bringing up the “heritage” argument, and insisting that destroying statues is tantamount to destroying our history, I would ask them why is your “heritage” more important than the heritage of those whose ancestors suffered so horribly under yours? Why should they “get over it” when you refuse to?

Anyway, back to the flag thing: Another thing that really bothers me is how the flag assumes prominence in places where, to me, it shouldn’t – like in church. It is my feeling that if you’re a Christian, that should take precedence over everything else, ie., love and worship of God takes precedence over love and worship of country. If that is true, then why is the American flag given the place of honor? Here’s a link to the VA’s guidance on flag display. Here are the rules, according to the American Flagpole and Flag Company, which are quite a bit more detailed: see Rule 6. It explicitly states, “When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence . . .” So much for “have no other Gods before me”.

Frankly, it also creeps me out when we sing hymns that seem to focus more on worship of country than God as well. I don’t expect it to stop, especially in my little country church, which is home to an exceptionally large proportion of veterans (including my wife and I). In fact, I’m probably losing a lot of cool points with any fellow congregants who might’ve ignored my warnings and continued to read this. To them, I would just say that I’m not saying we can’t be both Christians and patriots – just that one needs to take precedence over the other.

I think what troubles me most about the whole flag thing is that it’s just too easy. Nothing important is ever easy. It seems to me that if all we have to do is put up a flag, or slap a sticker on our car, stick a flag pin on our lapels, or buy a t-shirt to show how patriotic we are, then that patriotism is useless, worthless. That sort of patriotism is all about us, not our country. It seems that if we’re actual patriots, then we ought to be actively working to make our nation better, and that’s hard work.

Finally, I just want to say that I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with displaying the flag, especially if it’s done properly, but if that’s all you’re doing to make this country better, then why are you even bothering? Just something to think about.