Flag Day

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.

Sir Walter Scott - My Native Land

Today is Flag Day.  It's an easy day to miss.  Unlike on other federal holidays, the banks and post offices remain open.  I remember it mainly because it used to be my job to remember it.  As a Coast Guard quartermaster my responsibilities included all manners of honors and ceremonies, including making sure that my ship displayed the appropriate flags and ensigns on Flag Day as well as other days of observance.

I also remember it because I have a strong emotional attachment to the flag and this country.  I really believe in American exceptionalism.  I believe that the founding and the history of the United States are truly unique among the nations of the world.  I take perverse pleasure in the way that the rest of the world seems to look upon us with a mixture of horror and disdain.  I think many foreigners wish that we were less "militaristic," less committed to Israel's security, less wealthy, less free, less religious, less American.  I, however, am glad that we are all those things.  I have traveled abroad several times during my life and I can remember experiencing pride and relief every time I return to the United States.  I can't stand bureaucrats and petty functionaries and yet for some reason the sight of U.S. customs and immigration agents at the airport makes me glad because it means I'm home.  And all these emotions are recalled whenever I sight the American flag.

However, I confess to experiencing some mixed feelings on this latest Flag Day.  The flag, any flag, really is just a symbol, a piece of cloth.  It derives its meaning from the country and the values it represents.  And unfortunately I think we are losing sight of the values that make America exceptional.  In my last post I described my newfound appreciation for James Garfield.  Garfield once said "Territory is but the body of a nation.  The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul, its spirit, its life."  My Garfield post also described how he said that the citizens of this country are ultimately responsible for its government.  If our government is dysfunctional, incompetent, profligate or corrupt, it is because we tolerate it.

Our government is dysfunctional because it long ago abandoned any pretense of fidelity to the Constitution that established it.  Most members of Congress give no thought whatsoever to the question of whether or not a particular exercise of congressional power is actually authorized by the Constitution.  In their more unguarded moments they will admit this.  The fact that these people took an oath to uphold the Constitution appears to be completely lost on them.  They get away with it because most citizens are equally derelict in their duties.

So this Flag Day I'm actually feeling a little snarky.  To me, honoring the flag seems rather hollow when we've turned our backs on what it stands for.  I'm reminded of the words of Jesus: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cummin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."  Matt. 23:23 (NIV).  The outward shows of patriotism are important, but more important is the responsible exercise of citizenship.

Just sayin'.

James A. Garfield

While watching Your World with Neil Cavuto a guest mentioned a quote by President James A. Garfield of which I was not previously aware.  This is not surprising since Garfield is not one of the better known presidents.  His presidency lasted only 200 days and he spent the last 80 of those dying from a gunshot wound.  In fact, although he isn't mentioned in the lyrics, the children of Springfield Elementary undoubtedly had him in mind when they sang about "The Mediocre Presidents" (song begins at 3:45)

What got my attention was the guest's relating of a quote by Garfield to the effect that the people are themselves to blame for the deficiencies of the American government.  I have often made this point myself and I was pleased to hear that the concept of holding citizens accountable for the governments they elect has an established pedigree.  Anyway, I went searching for the exact quote and here it is:

Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature ... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation...it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.

Well put; but not something you're likely to hear from most politicians, who prefer to flatter voters rather than challenge them.  As an aside, in the course of my research I came across another Garfield quote almost as profound: "Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter."

The transformation of "cool"

Ian Tuttle has a piece over at National Review Online discussing recent comments by Angela Rye, executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus claiming that opposition to Obama is motivated largely by racism.  That's nothing new.  Nor is her claim that racism is disguised by various "codewords" that white people use as substitutes for epithets and prejudices that are no longer socially acceptable to express openly.  What is remarkable is one of the codewords she discerns in recent discussion of the President.

There's an ad, talking about [how] the president is too cool, [asking] is he too cool? And there's this music that reminds me of, you know, some of the blaxploitation films from the 70s playing in the background, him with his sunglasses," Rye said. "And to me it was just very racially-charged. They weren't asking if Bush was too cool, but, yet, people say that that's the number one person they'd love to have a beer with. So, if that's not cool I dont know what is.

She added that "even 'cool,' the term 'cool,' could in some ways be deemed racial [in this instance].  (http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/cbc-staff-opposition-obama-racist/592346)

So for those of you keeping score at home, "cool" used to be good; now it's bad.  Much like "dissent," which according to a bumper sticker once standard on Volvos and Priuses, used to be "the highest form of patriotism."  However, on January 20, 2009 it became the lowest form of racism.

That Obama's coolness should have been transformed from an asset to a liability is not unprecedented.  As a newly elected president, Jimmy Carter assiduously cultivated an image as a "man of the people" by, among other things, walking instead of riding in his inaugural parade, wearing sweaters instead of suit coats and carrying his own luggage when deplaning from Air Force One (although it was later revealed that the bags he carried were empty).  At first the American public approved of these gestures as a refreshing change from what many saw as the "imperial presidency" of Richard Nixon.  However, by the end of Carter's term, with unemployment, inflation and interest rates all in double digits and country after country falling to Communist takeovers, they seemed to symbolise the country's overall decline and lack of respect in the world.

Obama was blesseed with a similar honeymoon in which his obsession with celebrity and image was seen as "cool."  But image can only go so far without results to back it up.  George Costanza's failure to make any progress on the Penske file was not expiated by his act of humility in taking the smaller office.  Obama's failure to address the economic troubles bedevilling the American people is only exaggerated by the fact that he has chosen to take the biggest office in the land and is ostentatiously revelling in the perks afforded by that office.

Lies, damned lies and statistics

Got a reminder today from Fox News Sunday of the hazards of accepting statistics at face value.  Chris Wallace was interviewing Romney adviser Ed Gillespie and he asked him about the claim, frequently made by the Obama campaign, that Massachussets ranked 47th among the states in job creation during Mitt Romney's term as governor.  Gillespie broke down the data differently and provided a omewhat different picture.

Apparently Massachussets ranked last in job creation when Romney took office in 2003 but ranked 30th by the end of his term in 2006.  The Obama campaign's figure of 47th is technically accurate but it obscures a trend that arguably favors Romney.

This illustrates the chief strength and weakness of statistics.  That is that statistics operate to distill large amounts of data into gross generalizations.  These generalizations can summarize but they can also conceal important details.

Of course the larger question is the extent to which any governor can be blamed or credited for his states job performance.  But this issue reminds me to look more critically at any statistics proffered to support a given position.

Premortem Donation

Over at Anchor Rising Monique Chartier has a post reporting on a proposal by a professor of bioethics at Brown University to allow the harvesting of both kidneys from brain trauma patients on life support.  The patient would then be removed from life support so that he could die from his brain injury and not from losing both kidneys.  This rather chilling suggestion put me in mind of this bit from The Meaning of Life:

So once again life imitates art.  We ought to give careful thought to what happens if premortem donation is combined with government control of health care.  I know that sounds paranoid but I've lived long enough to see ideas once dismissed as paranoia become reality.

Wisconsin's Recall - and California's

Newsbusters has a post this morning comparing the national media's treatment of the Wisconsin recall election, which wraps up on Tuesday, with the 2003 campaign to recall Governor Gray Davis of California.  As might be expected, the major media, who served as Davis' palace guards, trying mightily to hold off the barbarians at the gate, are much more sympathetic to the gaggle of union thugs seeking to protect their perks by removing Scott Walker from the state house in Madison.  Of course leftists would no doubt point to conservative media figures whose inconsistency runs in the opposite direction.  One exception is the always-refreshing Jonah Goldberg who was opposed to the California recall despite being a conservative at odds with the left-wing Davis.

Jonah's reasoning was that recalls devalue the significance of scheduled elections.  He figures voters should take their responsibilities seriously and not be afforded a "do-over" if they realize they made a mistake.  In Goldberg's inimitable phrasing, "[T]he people of California elected Gray Davis and now they must be punished."  Of course I don't view retaining Scott Walker in office as a punishment for the people of Wisconsin.  I don't even really think of it as punishment for the public sector employees who are screaming the loudest about Walker's reforms.  But Jonah's larger point is still valid.

As I argued in this space two weeks ago, American citizens have come to see their franchise as a property right to be used for personal advantage, not as a public trust to be exercised with due regard for the rights of fellow citizens and the rule of law.  What we need is to revive a spirit of public spiritedness and respect for constitutional government.  When voters take their responsibilities seriously the recall election will become a vestigial relic much like Congress' power to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.