The radical right, 3 years ago, wanted a ban on desecration of the flag by constitutional amendment. This amendment itself was a contradiction of Christian and conservative values. Decreeing by law that the flag is a sacred object, it would construct an idol against tenets of the Christian and Jewish (as well as other) faiths. At the same time, it would establish a state religion; it’s one sacred object: the Flag of the United States of America.

Wikipedia defines desecration thus:

Desecration (also called desacralization or desanctification) is the act of depriving something of its sacred character — or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred by a group or individual.

The whole idea, of course was to establish enforceable penalties for those who disagree with the right (another affront to the constitution as it stands).

That’s all over with — until next time.

That same right wing fringe that manages to suck up too much of the national oxygen through demagoguery, now wants to topple the whole nation–since they haven’t gotten their way politically for more than 6 months. Never mind that their puny numbers and morally corrupt tactics have managed pretty well to keep the majority from legislating against their wishes for at least as long.

One might say these are simply the expressions of a petulant child, and by appearances, alone, one might be right. The danger is that these same petulant children will take their protests to extremes.

Many are armed to the teeth, many are elected officials. Some are captains of industry and finance.

Only a couple of years ago, while writing about Blackwater, I questioned the wisdom of allowing a private army to be trained and maintained on American soil. The danger of it appeared only theoretically real. It’s easy to dismiss the idea that apparently patriotic Americans would take up arms against an elected government, one that still has broad majority support. It’s not the American way. The United States has had peaceful handovers of power for over 230 years–even in the North during the Civil War.

I’m not saying that Blackwater is the specific group to fear. It only is the most powerful among many mercenary groups and militias that could truly challenge the government. Clearly superior force and high-tech toys no longer assure victory. That’s been proven in Iraq and Afghanistan, if not earlier in Vietnam.

It seems it is the most passionate and most committed combatant wins these days. “Passionate” is not our present government, but better describes the forces who oppose it. Passion has worked to block legislation and passion will give the right-wingers unexpected advantage if they choose violent means for regaining what they never lost.

What the right wing believes they lost is a country that feels safe and familiar and looks like their collective childhoods. Problem is, that US never existed. Only their naïveté existed. Now naïveté has morphed into delusion.

The delusion has become a shared delusion through the manipulation of cynical politicians and political operatives. The same tactics used to convince the electorate that the flag was being attacked have been deployed to create a right-wing uprising that seeks to either marginalize the majority or to bring down the nation, through promotion of the delusion that the U.S. could ever look like 1945–1960 and that that would be a good thing

The hideous truth is that the whole uprising is being orchestrated to protect runaway profits for big pharma, health insurers, and energy companies. It’s a massive gamble as the toppling of the U.S. government could be the result, destabilizing global markets for years and threaten corporate profits everywhere.

The calculation has to be that by 2010 the corporations can reverse the democratic majority in congress and by 2012 install an administration that once again kowtows to The Corporation. It’s a massive gamble. The right wing is not endearing themselves to the nation-at-large.

A loss for corporations in this massive gamble is a loss for shareholders. If the government remains powerless in the face of massive quantities of electoral cash and lobbyist payoffs, it’s up to the shareholders to step in and do what’s right for the nation and what serves them best: modest but more certain profit. Fire your boards; sue corporate leadership. Appoint board members that will seek to be good citizens while seeking a more modest bottom line.

Contrary to court rulings, the corporation is NOT a person — but shareholders, individually and as members of groups, are persons. Persons who love the flag, and the republic for which it stands. Don’t be demagogued into destroying this nation of ideals, human rights, and personal freedoms. Allow it to evolve, because if frozen in time, it will die on its own.