Do you respect your country's flag?

[radred]

i would dearly love to ask whether the american republicans think Australia sucks. we have a health plan that is way better that yours if i'm sick doctors will fix me. they get paid and i get better i don't pay for it directly, i have taxes to do that. obviously i have to pay for elective surgery etc i would dearly love to point out that i am as free as ever. but unfortunately being in Australia means that in the near future i will be living in the only democratic county to have censored internet. whilst it probably wont affect me as i don't frequent "those sites" i still don't believe in it. my main beef is that the list will be secret. which is never a good sign.

ot. our flag is a flag and nothing more. whilst i love my country (for the most part) a flag is a peice of fabric it means nothing, if somebody was to burn the flag it wouldn't bother me at all. it is what they mean by burning it that bothers me (subtle difference)

ps our flag is pretty boring really

 

[radred]

i would dearly love to ask whether the american republicans think Australia sucks. we have a health plan that is way better that yours if i'm sick doctors will fix me. they get paid and i get better i don't pay for it directly, i have taxes to do that. obviously i have to pay for elective surgery etc i would dearly love to point out that i am as free as ever. but unfortunately being in Australia means that in the near future i will be living in the only democratic county to have censored internet. whilst it probably wont affect me as i don't frequent "those sites" i still don't believe in it. my main beef is that the list will be secret. which is never a good sign.

ot. our flag is a flag and nothing more. whilst i love my country (for the most part) a flag is a peice of fabric it means nothing, if somebody was to burn the flag it wouldn't bother me at all. it is what they mean by burning it that bothers me (subtle difference)

ps our flag is pretty boring really

although at least it dosnt have a dragon/wagon whell in it a good flag is simple aka not ours, englands or americas, the best flags are simple, eg france, germany, scotland etc

 

[Caliostro]

Why? It's a piece of cloth, a monument to outdated concepts like "nations". The way most countries are nowadays, I'm ashamed, not proud of them.

 

[Xeros]

The flag, no. What the flag represents, yes.

 

[Code Monkey]

I don't really know what to say. It's a leaf. It doesn't quite fill me with patriotic pride.

 

[Treblaine]

I trample all over my flag every time I make my breakfast, mainly because I have a rug patterned after the Union Jack in the middle of my kitchen floor. Don't ask why or how I ended up with a carpet in the likeness of my country's flag.

I like my flag and so do most other Brits but no one idolises it. It seems to be not much more than any other fashion statement. Even loyal soldiers show more reverence to our monarch than their flag.

I think the case is that in the United States the reverence for the Flag - as a symbol of your nation - has replaced reverence of any monarch. I don't think America's President is even close to replacing the role a Monarch plays, yes the executive decision making part but they don't BECOME THE country.

 

[Syl4r]

I respect it, but i don't have it waving in my front garden or anything like that.

 

[Saargston]

Well, I hope I don't get flagged for this comment, but I never held them with much reverence.

 

[Aidan Mutzelburg]

Well. i guess so, I mean it's been a part of my life since I was a child.
So i would say a maybe.

 

[la-le-lu-li-lo]

I wouldn't say love, but yes, I respect it simply for what it represents. I'm not exactly gun-ho patriotic, but I do respect my country.

 

[Kyber]

YES

 

[fenrizz]

My country's flag has a christian cross in it, so no I do not respect it very much.

Also, it's basically the flag of the nation (Denmark) that "owned" us for 400 years, known as the 400 year night.

 

[ninjapenguin981]

No...It's a flag.

 

[NordicWarrior]

Hell no, why should I? My government gives me a reason to show respect I will. Until this day I have yet to see that.

American? Me too!

Unfortunately...

Yea it sux.... At least we have Obama now......

With the "..." I feel that you are probably joking. Because, if you really think things are better because Obama is in office, I will be putting my palm on my face.

Umm it is. At least he's a democrat. And he is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY better that George Dubya who said Nuculer instead of Nuclear.

If you actually read into what all the different congressman, senators, and other public officials have done in their careers, you would know that, what party that they belong to, for the most part, means absolutely nothing, both parties have been hijacked by crazy progressives and socialists.

I didn't care for Bush, but he was less of a threat to what America stands for than Obama is.

Obama is dragging this country down the path of Socialism, which will destroy this country and what it was founded on and stands for. You might get a few nice handouts in then beginning, but in the long run, it will turn into freedom and justice for none. The majority of the country is opposed to what Obama is doing, they are even peacefully marching against him. But what does he do, he talks to use with mentality like, "Listen children! I'm your father and you will do everything that I command!"

I can't wait till the midterm elections, the socialist and progressive Democrats and Republicans won't know what hit them, they will be rightfully voted out and replaced by true Conservatives that know how to bring this country back to its founding roots.

Obama and his congressional henchmen constantly attack the people that are opposing them, labeling the people wrongly, to try and get other people to stop listening to the truth that Obama and his henchmen are trying to take over and destroy this country.

What Obama doesn't realize is that trying to strike us down that way will make us more powerful than he will ever know.

Here we go, "That damn socialist is going to kill us" Why do you think socilalism is bad? Hitler was one, but aside from his Jew killing ways his government was perfect, he ruined eutopia because for his hatred, and Muslims will do the same, the muslims think they must kill the Jews, little stat, 1 billion muslims, 14 million jews, and muslims call amercians crazy

As I have told other people asking why socialism is bad, look at one of my posts above, I think is my longest one. A very condensed answer is, socialism = loss of freedoms. Socialism can't avoid going into peoples homes and forcing them to do things, because if they didn't do that they wouldn't be "able to keep the welfare of the citizens" any other way.

Seeing as how I already proved you wrong with my own post with, ya know, actual facts and statistics...

You may wish to try harder.

The problem is you are only partially incorrect and only told part of the story.

Norway isn't socialist. It is a MIXED economy, with state owned companies, as well as a free market. The reason that is can pay for the social services it provides is due to the ration of natural resources compared to total population. The US doesn't have a ratio quite as beneficial.

Norway should be proud of what they were able to accomplish and I am definately not saying what they have is bad, just that some facts were a little off.

Actually, you're the one that's a tiny bit off.

Is it Marx socialism? No. It is a form of socialism though. While it does have a bit of a free market, it is still a heavily regulated one, with the government owning majority shares in most major companies.

It's basically what one would call the best form of a socialist fiscal policy, and what I consider to be true socialism. If you read my post carefully, you would have saw that I stated multiple times true socialism. Now you know what I meant.

So yes, Norway would be a light socialist State, or Market influenced Socialist State.

Edit: Of course, this isn't going to be something me and you can probably settle on, as it's been a major argument between experts on whether it's socialist or not. Half say it is, half say it's not. The half that say it isn't are wrong, though.

Unfortunatly what YOU think is true socialism, isn't true socialism, just because you want it to be. The fact is Norway is not TRULY socialist.

 

[Harrowdown]

First off, I don't believe the approval polls. They are usually taken using phone surveys. It has statistically been proven that polls like that are skewed, because people on the left are more likely to take the time to answer one of those surveys, on the other end of that the right tends to hang up the phone after saying, "stop bothering us in our homes while we are eating dinner."
It doesn't matter what source the poll is from.

That's quite a convenient stance to have, isn't it? What possible evidence is there to support the rather ludicrous idea that right wingers are less cooperative with surveys?

Secondly, the reason Obama got elected, is because there are enough sheep out there that will listen and believe anything that a silver tongued devil will say. I know several people that voted for Obama that are now asking things like, "But..but why is he doing all these controlling things? I thought he said that this health care wasn't going to cause taxes to go up, why is this happening?" Then I said to them, "Did you really believe just on his words that all your troubles would go away without a price." Now, John McCain wasn't a good candidate either, he is just slightly less progressive than Obama, with a dash of socialism. I would have preferred McCain, because he would have moved too slow with the Health Care thing and he wouldn't have gotten the job done.

'Controlling Things'? Could you elaborate? If you do a bit of research, you'll find that the Healthcare bill is, for the most part, exactly how Obama promised it would be. Sure, there's a tad more taxation than originally specified, but it's to be expected. When the NHS was introduced in Britain in 1946, there was a small taxation imposed to pay for its upkeep. Said tax rose slightly because the people in charge underestimated the cost. However, the personal benifit to just about everyone makes up for it. Before universal healthcare, something as simple as a sprain or a fever could cost a fortune in doctors fees and medicine. Before the bill, that would've been the case for American families too. Now, more people are going to have a better standard of living. Exactly where did he claim that tax wouldn't go up, anyway? I don't think he did.

Thirdly, Socialism may be as you defined as a government that takes increased responsibility for its citizens' welfare; but what you don't have in that definition is the fact that that increase welfare watching costs the citizens their freedoms. Take this pile of crap health care bill he has shoved down America's throat. Helping someone in need is called charity. We have the freedom to not help people, usually, because we need the money for things our families need. What this health care bill will do, it unavoidable, is raise taxes because it has too much crap crammed into it and will cost way too much. This new health care bill may help other people, but at a cost of money from many other families that need that money. It is forced charity, which is wrong. It is like that stupid idea that Obama has about making a federal government mandate that will make a certain amount of hours of community service a requirement for students to graduate high school; that is more forced charity. I and millions of other Americans reserve the right to not be charitable. The government has absolutely no right to force people to do things, and it definitely has no right to come into my home and dictate how I run my life.(That is the only way socialism can work, they have to force people to do things, by taking away privacy and freedom) We have already seen a miniaturized version of this oppressive socialism in the state of California, they had a bill going through their state government that would give the state government the power to regulate the thermostats in peoples' homes; they would decide how hot or cold people could set them, because they said they were trying to cut back on power to stop that global warming crap.

Speaking of California, is it not oppressive to forbid gay marriage? What right does the government have to dictate someones morality or sexuality. I'm not accusing you of supporting such an awful thing, but I bring it up anyway to make a point. In this case, it's conservatism and republican politicians that oppress and dictate. The patriot Act is another example of the oppression in conservative America, along with the frequent instances of moles in peaceful protest groups.

'Global Warming Crap', by the way? There's a lot of evidence supporting it. Even if there weren't, it's fairly logical to assume that the releasing of more carbon dioxide into the environment is bad. We know that CO2 is present in oil, and we know that dojng so effects the environment, as there's evidence that global warming has taken place as a slower rate in the past. Ergo, pollution is bad.

Fourthly, the bygone days as you call them were better, in the sense that this government was founded on the principle that the people of this country have the freedom to run their own lives without the hands of the government to slap them, then tell them they can't do what they want. It also had the principle that states would have the right to tell the federal government to go shove off. And as I say that, that is why many states are now in legal battles with the federal government over this health care bill and the other socialist things that the government is up to.

See my previous points. Your government has been corrupting your so-called values for years, and progressive socialism hasn't played a part in it all the time, if ever.

Their is a whole lot more I could say, but I just don't have the time to get it all out. Though I have a feeling that it wouldn't matter, because what I have said is common sense, and a lot of people don't get that these days, they skip the easy answer and make things more complicated than they really are and then they end up being wrong.

(I have made so many political responses like these on other forums, I should just write book.)

I wouldn't call the publishers right yet. Your version of 'common sense' is based not on logic, but on staunch adherence to outdated values and exaggerations of what you call a denial of freedoms. I might not be much better, but I try. I will attempt to soothe your fears by suggesting you talk to some British and Canadian people. Both countries have universal healthcare, and I think you'll find it's popular in both countries. Hell, even the conservative party here wouldn't scrap the NHS, and they were against it when it was established.

 

[shemoanscazrex3]

I look at it as what it really is. A piece of cloth with some colors. Now when its wrapped around a girl who's naked, God bless America lol

 

[NoblePhilistineFox]

I believe that the Canadian flag promote two very wrong stereotypes (all Canadians smoke pot, and all Canadians like maple syrup) but its our flag, and if your not gonna respect your own flag than get the fuck out of your country.
GO CANADA!!!!!!

 

[IxionIndustries]

Not really. I'm not too patriotic of a person. I really wouldn't care if someone burned, ripped, or even ate the U.S. flag. However, I'm not going to be the one to advise such actions.

Also, I don't really find our flag to be too appealing. I realize the symbolism behind it, but I just don't care for the design of it.

 

[DefunctTheory]

It's just a FLAG. Stop paying so much meaningless attention to it.

Its called symbolism. The flag's of countries are given meaning through the people who respect it, and the country that holds it. Just because you don't respect it (Something that's entirely your right), doesn't automatically mean its nothing. It's just nothing to you.

I'm in the Army. I salute the flag twice a day; Christ, I wear it five times a week. I do indeed respect my country's flag.