Rise & Shine, Mother Cluckers!

The Problem with Political Flags & Allegiances, and the Anti-Virtue of Patriotism

“Rise & Shine, Mother Cluckers” chicken flag, found on eBay.

This is a flag-filled time of year in the U.S.

Flag Day was less than a month ago, commemorating the adoption of the first U.S. flag. Independence Day was less than a week ago, and there were plenty of “star-spangled banners” waving in parades.

Additionally, the entire month of June is now popularly associated with an ever-growing assortment of flags for the political “pride” movement. Other issue-specific flags include the “thin blue line” and similar variations of the U.S. flag, plus flags resembling those of the old Confederacy.

Even individual states can make the news cycle with their flags, as Minnesota showed when recently unveiling a new flag after the previous one was considered racist by some.

And with this being a presidential election year, you might find flags for the two major-party candidates hanging around.

Of course, if you don’t like all the political centralization, there’s the Gadsden Flag, which has its own fascinating — and politicized — origins.

Christopher Gadsden designed this Gadsden Flag during the American Revolution. Image is in the public domain.

The ‘patriotism’ scam

The word “patriot” comes from the Latin and Greek roots for “of one’s fathers/fatherland.” Patriots are those who share some loose, but identifiable, tribal connections, which for most of human history were associated with a common place; we modern folks can take for granted how comparatively easy it is to travel and change residencies and live among people who are essentially strangers (until we make new friends, of course).

“Patriotism” adds the suffix that implies “a practice, system, doctrine.” So, patriotism is the systemizing of patriot qualities into beliefs and expected actions (usually with an assumed affection and favoritism for one’s “own” country).

We each, of course, have an ancestry and a birthplace. But are these immutable characteristics — that none of us could’ve chosen for ourselves — suitable for enforcing in-group/out-group value judgments on people?

As both a Christian and an anarchist/voluntarist, I’d answer: no!

Christians are inclined to respect that each person has a heritage — I didn’t materialize out of thin air! — and this is reflected morally under the umbrella of “honor your father and your mother” from the Ten Commandments.

But this acknowledging of my lineage is supposed to engender a sense of humility for real humanity, not a sense of pride in a lofty abstraction. Patriotism is essentially the latter. It’s a love of a combination of immutable characteristics and political labels. Though it can be psychologically intoxicating, it’s morally vacuous.

It’s an anti-virtue.

Anarchists/voluntarists are already predisposed to eschew the imposed, hierarchical social order, and should have an easier time staying grounded when faced with politicized in-group/out-group dynamics. I encourage those who seek Christ to do the same.

Choose instead to connect with people according to good neighborliness, not the striving for externally validated citizenship.

(A conflict between the mindsets of neighbor and citizen … where have I read that before, heh?)

Good Neighbor, Bad Citizen is available at Amazon … B&N … Lulu.

A flag I can agree with

I was reminded recently of a day almost exactly a year ago, when I went to visit some friends for an early-summer celebration. On my walk from downtown to their neighborhood, I passed almost every flag mentioned in the opening section. I rolled my eyes and laughed to myself upon seeing each one.

And then, the unexpected happened: I found a flag I could support! It was a variation of the one found at the very top of this article, and it hung outside a small, backyard chicken coop: “Rise & Shine, Mother Cluckers.”

Why support this flag when I reject all the others?

Well, this flag speaks to being productive, rather than politically parasitic. Raising chickens securely on one’s own property and harvesting delicious, nutritious eggs is honest work, and it need not violate any other person’s natural human rights. It also supports food freedom and medical freedom (see No. 12 in this list).

This flag shows no favoritism for nationality, ethnicity, place of origin, nor any other of our immutable human differences. It celebrates no governments and no cronyism.

It’s the complete opposite of the poison of government power. As such, it’s the only flag I encountered to which I can honestly give my loyalty:

I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the Rise & Shine Mother Cluckers,
and to the breakfast for which they provide,
three eggs over easy,
in a combo platter,
with hash browns and buttered toast for all.

Thank you for your service, Mother Cluckers!

Now, here’s a flag and a pledge I can support! Feel free to share it!

And thank you for your attention, readers!

What say you about all the government flags? What do you do when confronted by these very conspicuous signals of anti-virtue?

Would you like to see me expand more on the Christian approach to what the moderns call “patriotism” in a future Substack post?

Got any chickens? Do you have to rise & shine with those mother cluckers, or can you wait a little later in the day to check on them?

What do you think of my new Pledge of Allegiance?

Anything else interest you about today’s article?

Let me know your thoughts …