{"id":13123,"date":"2008-07-16T06:32:25","date_gmt":"2008-07-16T13:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/07\/16\/you-a-grand-ol-flag.html"},"modified":"2008-07-16T06:32:25","modified_gmt":"2008-07-16T13:32:25","slug":"you_a_grand_ol_flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/07\/16\/you_a_grand_ol_flag.html","title":{"rendered":"You a Grand Ol’ Flag!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Much amused outrage out there over Congress — faced with gasoline prices, war issues, security and privacy concerns, and, heck, even an election — instead devoting time to worrying about This Year’s Number One Threat to the United States<\/a>: American flags that are made in China<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

Congress can’t halt the flow of Chinese-made flags, but lawmakers can try to control where they are flown. The House declared Monday that any flag flown on federal property should be made in the U.S.A.<\/p>\n

“It’s not a major problem facing the nation,” admitted Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif. “But it’s an irritant.”<\/p>\n

Chinese-made flags seemed to pop up everywhere after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. People rushed to show their sense of patriotism by buying American flags, and U.S. manufacturers couldn’t keep up with demand. Foreign imports of American flags, worth around $1 million annually at the time, surged to nearly $52 million in the weeks that followed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wow! That’s, like, 0.008% of the US trade deficit! Those sly Chinese SOBs … there oughta be a law!<\/em> <\/p>\n

Well … there’s a problem with that solution.<\/p>\n

Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wanted to force the government to buy only American-made flags. “But we were told that this mandatory stuff runs into trade agreements,” the eight-term congressman said. That is because the U.S. has gone to great pains to hammer out trade deals with other countries and can’t impose new limits after the fact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oops. Oh, well, at least it’s illegal in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida to sell flags not made in the USA. In Minnesota, that’ll net you 90 days and a $1,000 fine. Let’s hear it for Freedom!<\/p>\n

Now, normally that would be just a one-off fun-poke, but, being of a theological bent, it occured to me that this whole brouhaha reminds me of … the Donatist Heresy<\/a>, one of those old Christian church things from the 4th-5th Centuries. Put briefly, the Donatist Heresy (well, what was eventually Officially Judged to be a heresy) said that sacraments (baptism, communion, marriage, etc.) that were administered by someone unworthy to do so were, in fact, not valid sacraments. <\/p>\n

In other words, that deathbed confession you gave to someone you thought was a holy priest but was actually an unrepentant pedophile? Sorry, doesn’t count, no sins forgiven, and the Fiery Furnace for you, my lad!<\/p>\n

The church’s ultimate decision on what the Donatists were putting forward was called ex opere operato<\/em>, which is Latin for “it’s a frelling sacrament, which means God’s mojo overrides the minister being a putz.” In other word, the validity of the sacrament comes from God’s grace, not the “mere conduit” of the minister, and even if the priest giving you communion is an axe murderer in his spare time, it’s still the Holy Eucharist, etc. <\/p>\n

So, what does this have to do with goofy Congressional nativist resolutions?<\/p>\n

What makes an American flag a (secularly) sacred item? Is it where it was made? Is it whether the cloth (or vinyl) was sourced in the US, and made by US workers, and sold in US stores and carries with it the imprimatur <\/em>of “Made in the USA”? <\/p>\n

Or is it what it represents — the freedoms, the aspirations, the sacrifices, the meaning of what America stands for? Does the actual object interfere with the symbolism? Is the medium the message? Does a flag’s Chinese origin mean it’s actually not an American flag at all, but a Yellow Peril CommSymp Autocratic Tibet-Suppressing Flag of Evil?<\/em> Does it having been made by Chinese workers being paid $0.10 a day in a sweat shop outside of Shanghai make it less holy than it being made by Mexican immigrants being paid $10.00 a day in a sweat shop outside of Los Angeles?<\/p>\n

Or, put another way that will no doubt twist conservatives’ guts into knots — if someone burns an American flag that was made in China, should they be sent to jail under a flag-burning amendment, or congratulated for being a patriotic hero?<\/em> <\/p>\n

And that is enough ideological geekiness for the morning.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via Les<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much amused outrage out there over Congress — faced with gasoline prices, war issues, security and privacy concerns, and, heck, even an election — instead devoting time to worrying…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,27,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law","category-religion","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10396,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/29\/somethings_brewing_in_gai.html","url_meta":{"origin":13123,"position":0},"title":"Something’s brewing in Gainesville","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 29-Jan-07 9:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost defies comment: A display of international flags at Gainesville High School will be moved from its location because school district leaders worry it will become an anti-immigration meeting spot,...","rel":"","context":"In "School Daze"","block_context":{"text":"School Daze","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/school-daze"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1390,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/01\/14\/vexillogy.html","url_meta":{"origin":13123,"position":1},"title":"Vexillogy","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Jan-02 9:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"The North American Vexillological Association (vexillogy is the study of flags) has the results of its 2001 poll of US and Canadian state\/provicial flags. New Mexico is the winner. NAVA...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135851,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/14\/confederate-flag-compromise-isnt.html","url_meta":{"origin":13123,"position":2},"title":"A confederate flag compromise that isn’t","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 14-Jan-18 9:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd love to know whether GOP state rep Greg Snowden is being naive or nefarious in proposing a solution to the debate in Mississippi over continued use of the Confederate battle ensign in its state flag that will likely only satisfy the folk who want to keep that tribute to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/unnamed-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3258,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/01\/06\/flags_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":13123,"position":3},"title":"Flags","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 6-Jan-03 3:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"With the economy \"ailing,\" the US facing terrorist threats and critical decisions on security versus liberty, and an impending war in Iraq (and beyond), what sorts of bills can you...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51527,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/20\/flags-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":13123,"position":4},"title":"Flags","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 20-Jun-15 12:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Ironic that Flag Day was less than a week ago, here in the US ...In the wake of the Charleston killings, a lot of people pointed at the proud location of a Confederate battle flag on the statehouse grounds, noting it as a symbol of a civil war fought to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51524,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/19\/lindsey-graham-thinks-the-confederate-battle-flag-works-for-south-carolina.html","url_meta":{"origin":13123,"position":5},"title":"Lindsey Graham thinks the Confederate battle flag "works" for South Carolina","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 19-Jun-15 4:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The flag represents to some people a civil war and that was the symbol of one side. To others, it's a racist symbol, and it has been used in a racist way.\"And ... neither of those fazes you, Sen. Graham? That the side that lost the civil war against the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}