Commentary on the State of the Union
Something is going tragically wrong with our national government and I don’t have the foggiest idea of how to correct it.
President Trump has embraced hatred, racism and animosity as a definition of patriotism, and it is hard to guess where we are heading as a country.
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have just brought us a searing documentary on the Vietnam War, and it appears that we are reliving parts of it over again. Protesters against the war were consistently derided as unpatriotic and anti-American, and over 50% of the American public supported the National Guard who shot and killed four college students at Kent State in 1970.
Back then the phrase used by many supporters of the war was “America, Love It or Leave It.” While our government supported the war that led to 58,000 young Americans killed, they ridiculed protests as being disrespectful of our military.
Today, our President and many others criticize athletes who take a knee during the National Anthem on the same terms. Still trying to hide in a political closet as he refuses to acknowledge how he dodged military service during the Vietnam War while faking a heel injury, Trump admonishes those who protest the treatment of black Americans by police departments across our country as insulting our flag.
Kneeling during the National Anthem is as honorable as kneeling during a Catholic mass. It is a reminder that all Americans are to be treated equally by God and our country.
