Forty Five years ago I stood in a classroom in Louisiana. I looked up at the flag that was at the top of the chalkboard near the door, put my right hand over my heart and recited the “Pledge of Allegiance” with the rest of that class. I remember my teacher, who seemed to be in a time warp, as her hairdo was worn up in a “beehive” type of style that day. After we said the pledge, we sang “America the Beautiful”. I wouldn’t know the National Anthem lyrics until 3rd grade.
We said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning until I graduated on May 29, 1981 from Ranger High School, in Ranger, TX. Fortunately, we were taught the meaning of the colors on the flag at an early age. However, many did not know that originally, when the flag was adopted in 1777, there was not a “meaning” attached to those colors until the colors were defined for the Great Seal when the Continental Congress met. The Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thompson stated the following when reporting to congress about the seal:
“…”The colors of the pales (the vertical stripes) are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice…”
Eventually, many of us were taught that this is what also applied to the colors of Old Glory.
I submit now that our nation is no longer pure and innocent, represented by the white, due the greed and corruption in Washington, D.C. No…Not Wall St. They are only part of the problem. The real problem lies within the nation’s capital. This has resulted in a violation of the trust that the American People had in a system which once worked for them to ensure their freedoms,but is now working against them in order to deny them.
This is not about the 23 executive “actions”–which translates to “orders” which congress must approve of. President Obama failed to realize that there are three people any American citizen should be able to seek guidance or services from without fear of reprisal. Those three would be their lawyer, their doctor and their priests/pastors. These “actions” require medical personnel to ask patients about guns in their homes and THEN report back to the government. Does anyone see a problem with this besides me? Roe v. Wade is even violated here. Roe v. Wade does NOT guarantee the right to an abortion, but the right to privacy, so yes this will affect both the left and the right. It is time for America to get its head out of the sand and stand up for what it once believed in: Freedom. TRUE FREEDOM.
I do not own a gun and most likely never will. This is not about the guns. This is about control. This is about your right to decide your own destiny whether you want to buy weapons or not. To tie these measures in with the Affordable Care Act only proves that the right-wing was correct. As I said, this will affect even the left so they need to pay attention to what I am about to say here. Before I go into the meaning of the red on the flag, you need to know EXACTLY what those orders say, so here is the link–and pay particular attention to #16! :
There is NO reason to try to tamper with doctor/patient confidentiality. For one, that violates the Roe v. Wade ruling which guarantees MY right to privacy. No pun intended here, but women should be up in arms over this already. It doesn’t matter what side of the gun issue one is on, this can be used as a two-edged sword to slice away at rights so many women before me fought hard to acquire because it will be applied at the whim of whatever party is in charge of things. Seriously. Think about this. This will be ran according to the whim of politicians, not the people, and a few Constitutional Amendments have to be wiped out to achieve it. THAT is my problem with it.
Universal Health care should not be used to erode the rights of every American citizen. The Constitution should not be held hostage by it either. It is time to revamp the system, everyone. It is time for a new party with fresh ideas to be put into power because the major parties only care about taking our tax dollars and furthering their own interests. They will NOT pay off the deficit with the runaway taxation they are going to support for each other and it is you, I, our children and grandchildren that will pay for this if our country continues on this course. I am also really tired of them exempting themselves from their own legislation. If it good enough for WE THE PEOPLE, it is good enough for them. Remove the perks. Remove the taxpayer funded travel expenses and $500 steak dinners–not to mention the trips to resorts when they want to run and hide at a resort rather than do the job they were paid to show up for work to do.
Now for the meaning of “red”…Some teachers say it is for blood shed to ensure freedom, but it stood for “hardiness” and “valor” when the Great Seal was created in 1777. I will take this definition of hardiness: Capable of surviving unfavorable conditions . Remember the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner? “…And the rockets red glare…The bombs bursting in air gave proof though the night that our flag was still there…”
Well people of America, we are under a different type of siege today. The question is, will we and our flag survive it or will be ripped further and further apart by self-serving politicians in Washington? Stay tuned on that one…Same bat time! Same bat channel!
Now for the blue…Vigilance, perseverance and justice…
I submit that it is WE THE PEOPLE who deserve justice and the government needs to stop trying to further its means by exploiting the dead as well as the Constitution of the United States. Every time a government tries to get its people behind a sweeping and life-changing reform, what is that reform usually tied to? Children…It is true and it isn’t the first time in History this has happened. Remember a man named Adolph Hitler? Children are vulnerable and they shouldn’t be used as pawns by politician because that is just another way to manipulate the populace. Stop them from doing that, and they’ll have to talk about the issues, rather than tying them to “the children” stir up the “emotional vote” rather than relying on logic to solve issues without jeopardizing our rights–and I am not referring to just the “right to bear arms”. It will begin to erode others as well. These orders already fly in the face of Roe v. Wade, yet not one reporter has bothered to address this. Why is that? Maybe they are pawns themselves. However, this is now no longer a question of right-wing or left–wing, gay or straight, etc…This is a question of whether or not the people on both sides can wake up and see what is being done to them. Hopefully they will and soon. “We the people” have been used and manipulated enough by politicians on both sides of the political spectrum, I think.
The Haunted Pen 