What is this strange feeling?

Is it … hope? Last night I did something that for years I feared I would never again do. I put back up my flag.

I’d been a closet patriot for years, long before it was cool. Yet, on October 7, 2001, I took down my flag. Ashamed of my country and my government. Ashamed at those who thought a war of vengeance and hate and ignorance could turn back time, or even recompensate the families of the victims of 9-11.

Then this country invaded Iraq and betrayed my vision of what it meant to be an American even further. I always assumed that I would return the flag when we pulled our armed forces from those two countries. A paradoxical goal, since long term invasion is the agenda.

But last night, watching the elections I felt that feeling again. Pride. Pride in my country and for the people who shape it.

Obama will not pull our soldiers from Iraq. He seems bent on increasing the force in Afghanistan. This is not a surprise. But I do feel that with him in office, we have stumbled off the path of batshit insane and back on to a path with workable solutions.

So, for now, the flag is back. And maybe the cynicism is ebbing.

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/