Citizenship in a free society means individual liberty and individual responsibility. The two are inseparable faces of one coin; one may not duck one without sacrificing the other. I am concerned that too many "citizens" today believe that they can.
Does the flag represent its nation or its government? Weren't aware that
there was a difference? Read on...
There's been a flap recently over the words "under God" in the Pledge
of Allegiance. I ask you, is it right for the government to put any
words in our mouths?
First, class here refers to legal status, as in the 14th amendment's equal protection clause. Second, classless doesn't mean without class; it means that we (adults) all belong the same legal class.
If we are all fit to rule ourselves, and if we are all born into the
same class, then to which class in earlier stratified societies can we
and should we compare ourselves? What are the implications of that realization?
Finally, does government in America behave as if that were true?
Since terrorists can infiltrate our nation and strike anywhere, anytime, we need "soldiers" everywhere at all times to confront them. Authoritarians can only envision responses that create new orders of knighthood and reduce "ordinary citizens" to tractable peasant status. I think we need to remember the wisdom of militia: They preserve a free state not just by defending the state against outsiders, but by defending free society against the call to become a police state.