Patriots Fly the FlagPatriots Fly the FlagAbout the time of the Mifflin Street Party, some fellow where I worked stuck a flag decal on my office window. Today I would have the same reaction but without the anger.
Where I worked was typical of the 60's. My own office area, shared with my boss and two others, was a Hauserman-partitioned area just to the side of the computer room. I worked in system support. The location made sense. Hauserman? This is a fairly sturdy but conceptually portable wall. The bottom and frame are steel. The top, from desk high, is glass. My management team, Emery Johnson, Robert Ball, and Robert Skudlarek, were better than I deserved.
Today for walls we have furry things called cubbies. This was during the Viet Nam War. It was in South Bend, Indiana. One of our divisions made missiles. The people believed the news – whatever it said. They were ready to claim to kill anyone who was not a patriot. These are the people that the movie “Easy Rider” was all about. As our IBM representative said to me at the coffee klatch, “you are the only hippie we have ever known”. She said this when I complained about their language. They said they would kill those students if they did those things in South Bend. I told them they had no idea what they were saying. They were not at the demonstrations. They ignored the issues. If they wanted to kill people, they could join the Army.
Me. A Hippie? I drove a gunmetal blue Plymouth Sport Fury with a 383-magnum engine. It had a black vinyl roof. I wore a matching blue suit with loafers. White shirt. Tie. Every day. I was 24 and successful in my chosen career. I put major applications online in computer centers: PERT, Personnel, Payroll, Warrantee. I knew more about computers than my professors would ever know. Hippie? Not a chance. Everything is relative. To South Bend I was a Hippie because I came from Wisconsin -- and I did not believe the party line.
To the point. A co-worker pasted a USA flag decal on my window. It was a good location: you saw my window every time you walked out of the computer center. This guy had no windows in his office area. I told him to take the decal off. He told me I was not a patriot.
No. I am a patriot. I got out of my desk, out of my office, onto the programmer floor and verbally assaulted the fellow:
What is the name of your Senator? Either one? I am from Wisconsin. Mine was Bill Proxmire – and he returned phone calls personally. This fellow could not name his.
What is the name of your Congressman? He could not name his. I could name mine.
<><>State Assemblyman? Senator? None.
Your City Councilman? None.<>
A school board member? None.<>
When did you attend a city council meeting? Never.
When did you attend a school board meeting? Never.
Me? My friend Janne had dragged me to a school board meeting. When you have police like at the Mifflin Street Party, you go to City Council meetings. When you have a Senator like Bill Proxmire, on the Senate Military Appropriations committee and yelling loudly about war costs, you know who he is. You also know your Congressman. Did you know that the ruling political party in the State of Wisconsin until 1954 was the Socialist Party?
Me? I went down the same list and named each one. I knew the Governor, personally. I knew my Senator, personally. My Congressman. I was involved with multiple state government committees.
When my friend did these things, he could place his flag on my window, until that time, take it off. I said these things loudly. I was angry. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, needs people. Vocal bystanders: use it or lose it.
I watched television. I watch the news more than anything else. I watch Jeopardy. Sometimes Millionaire. Never a movie. A network movie is like reading a Reader’s Digest version of a classic. I timed one the other day. The broadcast time was 3 hours. It was claimed to be uncut. I clipped the commercials. The entire fit on one 120-minute tape at standard speed. Most movies broadcast at 2 hours, are really 1 hour 45 minutes long, and have 15 minutes cut from them.
To the point. On the news I always saw the Palestinians waving their flags. I wondered why they took such interest in their flag. During Viet Nam, all of the police in the USA added flags to their uniforms. I took this as blind patriotism that I saw as they beat people during the war. Wearing a flag was a symbol of an empty mind, probably a violent one.
When 911 happened I had just pulled into an RV park. Ghost Mountain, halfway between Sacramento and that lake named after a blue precious stone up in the mountains. I immediately went to the front desk. When you pull into a park, they give you a handful of their literature. I suggested that there would be a run on American flags and that they could add a page with a flag on it so that their visitors could place the flag in their windows. Their visitors would appreciate the interest. The office said that there would be no such interest and people who were interested could buy one at the Wal-Mart 50 miles away.
They were wrong. The interest was there. Kmart and Wal-Mart and most other stores ran out of flags the same day. The people in the park either already had a flag or would not easily find one. I did not have a working printer or I would have passed out paper flags.
Again I am hearing America, Love it or Leave it. We have a President who promotes ignorance and violence. We have overthrown a sovereign nation because he did not like it. We have passed a “Patriot Act” that costs more personal liberties than the people who bombed the buildings could have ever done by themselves. And the Attorney General wants to increase control of personal liberties.
More than ever, we need your participation in the government. Where are all the patriots from the 60’s? Retired like me? I don’t think so. I was 23 in 1967. I was older than most (bad grades) so they are, on average, 3 years younger. I retired at 57. This is 5 years earlier than average. So these guys will retire in 8-10 years. Retirement give you time to think about these things. I travel fulltime so I see more opinions than many. Participating is hard when you live two weeks at one time in any one place. But I do write letters and I do vote.
Oh. Voting. Do you vote with knowledge of the issues? Do you just randomly check 5 names for school board members? If you do not know the issue, skip the office. If you do not understand the issue, skip that referendum. If you do not know, do not vote. I really want you to vote – only if you understand the issues. If you do not know, let those who do understand make the decision.
Get out there. Do something. Anything. Make your voice heard. Stand up at the school board. Talk with your councilman. Let him know what the citizens without a cause want. Even better: get a cause.
Visit your state capitol building. See where your tax money is spent. I hear the people in California bitching about the incompetence of the current governor. Have they called or written him? I doubt it.
America: Right the Wrongs.