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Our Confused President





Symbol [sim-buh l] 
noun: something used for or regarded as representing something else; a materialobject representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign.

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Patriot [pey-tree-uh t, -ot] 
noun: a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.
Yesterday, President Trump asserted that NFL players who refuse to stand for the national anthem display "a total disrespect of everything that we stand for."

But the national anthem is not "everything we stand for." Like the American flag, it is a symbol of everything we stand for, namely the ideals that were enshrined in the founding of our nation - "certain unalienable Rights," as stated in the Declaration of Independence, among which are "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

 When some among us are denied their rights, and the symbols of our nation are used by others among us as weapons to further this denial, it is a right and honorable and noble thing to refuse to honor them. This practice - an expression of the broader practice known as "civil disobedience" - is an intrinsic part of our spiritual charter as Americans. On these occasions, when we refuse to honor the symbols, we honor what they stand for.

Our nation was founded by people who called themselves patriots, and who refused to adhere to laws they deemed unjust. Throughout our history, patriots have protested unjust laws, including laws that sanctioned slavery, segregation, and the denial of due process and justice to entire classes of people, the list of which is too long to summarize here. No American should need reminding that this, also, is part of our history as a nation.

 The struggle to fulfill the ideals of our nation's founding - to live up to the things our symbols stand for - continues in our day. Any American who would choose to denigrate those who exercise their right to protest - including those who would protest the singing of the National Anthem - is, themselves, un-American.

Yesterday, our President was the un-American.

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