Does Freedom of Speech begin with or end at our flag? It’s a discussion that’s not going to go away soon—sitting/kneeling during the National Anthem. The matter involves much more than just professional football. And, of course, it’s being propagandized by everyone’s favorite, Donald Trump. And just where do the Constitution, religion and the Bible fit in?

Let’s start with the Constitution: Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Obviously, there’s some conflict when an atheist (freedom of religion) or critic of Donald Trump (freedom of speech) or activist for racial justice (1st and 14th amendments) is expected to stand automatically with his hand over his heart, as if it were the law, when someone leads a Pledge of Allegiance to the flag or stages a playing of the National Anthem. 

That’s the same pledge of allegiance into which politicians back around Eisenhower’s time insisted upon inserting the words “under God.” Prayer isn’t allowed in school these days (cannot be required of students in accordance with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution), but pledging allegiance to a nation “under god” apparently is OK. Pretty sneaky. And so anyone pledging fealty to the flag is verbally acknowledging a god overseeing the country. Some god who can serve as a scapegoat for villains in matters such as climate change, war and all manner of suffering. 

I myself take exception to others’ presuming to hamstring my Freedom of Choice, which is what I truly revere. I do not choose to be forced into rote, sheep-like submission to the philosophy of an extreme Christian right—or to march in lock-step with some self-anointed autocrat. I want my individual freedoms—religion, speech, press (especially personal in my case), peaceful assembly and (these days in particular) petitioning the government for a redress of grievances. If i stand for a tribute to the flag, its will be because I want to, not because someone tells me I have to.

I also believe there’s an implied Freedom of Choice specifically  for women regarding their personal health and well-being (birth control, abortion, etc.). Doubters might consider the all-inclusive “inherent and inalienable rights” of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness pronounced in the Declaration of Independence.

There’s certainly never any shortage of people trying to tell others what they must do, as they attempt to remake everyone in their own image. And no, I’m not telling anyone what they must do. I’m just pointing out what they are free to do or not to do, according to their individual consciences and freedom of choice. 

Patriotism is basically a pride in one’s country. It is a belonging, a kinship, something built on the sacrifices of generation after generation. The flag is a symbol of that pride, just as it is a symbol of the freedoms promised by our nation’s founders. One problem along the way since Mayflower days is  that many choose to forget that it all began with immigrant refugees. Today, the achievements and acquisitions (often merely inherited) of many are jealously guarded by those who somehow presume an automatic entitlement by birthright. 

Patriotism then becomes in some circles a refuge for those seeking self-worth without any effort or actual contribution. I’m on top of the news a lot and my hero of the day recently was a young Houston school student named India Landry, a picture of whom is in my illustration heading this article—as this week’s contrast to Donald Trump. I’ll just print a copy of the news item here:

A Houston high school student who was suspended for several days after refusing to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school's principal and the school district. On Monday, Oct. 2, Windfern High School student India Landry was sent to the school principal’s office for texting on her cell phone. While in the office, according to the complaint, the Pledge of Allegiance came on over the school’s intercom and Landry continued sitting. When Principal Martha Strother asked Landry to stand, the 17-year-old declined. According to the complaint, Strother told Landry, “Well you’re kicked outta here.” Strother’s secretary also allegedly told Landry, “This is not the NFL.”

So back to the National Football League and players silently protesting for racial equality. As a military veteran, I proudly count myself among those who served in time of war in whatever role was required of us. I was fortunate, as I did not have to contribute my death on the field of battle. Some friends and acquaintances did in that war and the one following. I’ll stand beside today’s veterans while also wishing the flag under which they served were keeping more of its promises to them—those maimed physically and/or mentally, the unemployed and impoverished, the homeless . . . to the families of those and the ones killed in action. Such as the widow and children of Sgt. LaDavid Johnson who died in Niger. These are the real obligations and they cannot be met merely by wearing an American flag lapel pin or paying passing tribute to the flag on football Sunday.

There’s a lot that could be said about our photo-op white-supremacist president who remains silent on the matter of black justice that is at the root of the protest movement. Indications in some circles on this underlying racial-equality issue are that it is going to be kicked down the road in hopes that it will just go away. 

I don’t see the ball players’ plea to their flag as in any way disrespectful of members of our military, past or present. They are, however, protesting a certain aspect of militance in law enforcement that leaves too many unarmed black men lying dead in the streets.

As for those who make some pathetic effort to combine their chosen religion with patriotism, I point with a bit of curiosity to the 4th of the 10 Commandments: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. How many of you are watching those Sunday football players, working like hell on the Sabbath to provide you entertainment when you could be off singing in a church choir? There seems to some conflict here in who finds what irreverent.

Through all of this, one thing keeps nagging at the back of my mind—the first of the 10 commandments:  I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.

Thanks, God, for getting us out of the hell-hole of Egypt (and environs), but somehow we’ve wound up here in this Promised Land with a phony god of the Golden Calf seeking preeminence over you. His name is Donald Trump and he’s trying to write his own Bible. 

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