Where Did This Come From?
The House passed a Constitutional Flag Burning amendment to the constitution. And the AP article on the issue states that chances for passage in the Senate are the 'best' in years, saying that 65 senators have in the past voted for similar proposals. Sixty-seven votes are needed.
Excuse me? I consider myself well-informed and yet I didn't see this at all on the horizon.
So we have political grandstanders on the right invoking the sacred memory of those who died in the September 11th attacks:"Ask the men and women who stood on top of the (World) Trade Center," said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, R-Calif. "Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."
Of course they will, Duke. Of course they will.
From a historical point of view, this line of reasoning is fascinating. Considering what this tool is suggesting naturally leads my mind to similar events taking place in Japan during the era of Taisho democracy, the 1910s and 20s, when the seeds of societal militarization were planted. During this time, symbols became nationalized. The cherry blossom began to refer to young soldiers dying. Yasukuni Shrine transformed from a cool place to drink sake and hold festivals to a somber meeting place for the deceased soldiers qua Shinto gods. And in 1925, the liberal bourgeois party worked out a compromise with the conservative bourgeois party: Universal male suffrage for 'Peace Preservation Law.'
If the title of that law alone doesn't scare you, read it again. Hell, if the PATRIOT Act doesn't scare you ...
Excuse me? I consider myself well-informed and yet I didn't see this at all on the horizon.
So we have political grandstanders on the right invoking the sacred memory of those who died in the September 11th attacks:"Ask the men and women who stood on top of the (World) Trade Center," said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, R-Calif. "Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."
Of course they will, Duke. Of course they will.
From a historical point of view, this line of reasoning is fascinating. Considering what this tool is suggesting naturally leads my mind to similar events taking place in Japan during the era of Taisho democracy, the 1910s and 20s, when the seeds of societal militarization were planted. During this time, symbols became nationalized. The cherry blossom began to refer to young soldiers dying. Yasukuni Shrine transformed from a cool place to drink sake and hold festivals to a somber meeting place for the deceased soldiers qua Shinto gods. And in 1925, the liberal bourgeois party worked out a compromise with the conservative bourgeois party: Universal male suffrage for 'Peace Preservation Law.'
If the title of that law alone doesn't scare you, read it again. Hell, if the PATRIOT Act doesn't scare you ...