There's a tempest brewing in a teapot, and who better to light the burner than the Tea Party? Seems members of the political movement have brought out the angry American in us with the Confederate flag they hoisted on their parade float. They say it's just historical, but here's the problem: they brought out that bit of "history" for the July 4th parade.
Not getting the irony yet? Perhaps a history lesson is in order: the members of the Las Cruces Tea Party celebrated our nation's Independence Day with a flag that represents a group that wanted independence FROM us!
Ouch!
To make matters worse, the Tea Party somehow won a prize for having one of the best floats in the Las Cruces Electric Light Parade. Now the company that sponsors the parade is threatening to pull out, the ACLU is sounding off about free speech, and the Tea Party members are insisting they never meant to offend anyone. Oh right, and patriotic Americans from sea to shining sea are shaking their fists at how un-American this whole mess is.
I've got another word for it: stupid.
I know, it's not quite what you'd expect be said of a constitutional debate and a possible disrespect of our great nation, but hear me out. I love this country so much that I'm moved to tears every July 4th. I blubber like a darn baby because I am just so darn proud to live here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. But I just can't summon the outrage on either side of this.
Is it free speech to fly the historical naval banner flown by the Confederate States of America during a parade? Sure it is. Does it seem completely disrespectful to our nation on its birthday to display the flag of a group that once fought against us in a war? Yup.
But I think the real problem here is a lack of common sense. Putting together a float for a July 4th parade is not exactly rocket science. You get something red, something white, something blue. You enlist some seriously cute little kids. And voila! Perfect birth of our nation celebration.
How about next year the Las Cruces Tea Party hits the party store, grabs some red, white, and blue streamers and some sparkly balloons, and just calls it a day, huh?
Do you think the Confederate flag was unpatriotic or just plain stupid?
Image via HarshLight/Flickr
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Comments 16
I can speak firsthand about this subject having been in a 4th of July parade in my hometown on a "Heart of Dixie" float playing "Dixie", wearing hoop skirts, waving confederate flags, you get the point. The founders of my hometown are buried there and fought in the Civil War and actually have confederate flags on their graves. The organization that sponsored the float has marched in it for as long as I can remember and except for one complaint has been very well received. I'm not sure what all the hoopla is over. Maybe it's because this parade was in New Mexico and I'm in Florida (which isn't exactly the deep south, lol) but having the Confederate flag in our parade didn't make national news. We even had a black man on our float waving the flag right along with us because he knows the true history of the flag and the facts of the Civil War that aren't taught in school since the victors write the history books.
Soooooo amused at the comment about "outlawing" the flag - free speech is a dang shame! Also amused at a blogger taking the time to blog about something that even she doesn't care about. What's the matter - did someone else already blog about the price of turnips in France?
>sigh< Free speech. But too bad teabaggers aren't more creative, and are just livin' in the past...
they lost the civil war give them some thing dumb ass red necks