I’m in Washington DC still (I’ve been here most of the week for a business conference).  Yesterday was the day of the American flag.  You can see flag-waving everywhere these days.  Americans do focus on the accoutrements of democracy rather than making sure we have a healthy democracy with active citizen participation (e.g., consider our pathetic voter turnouts compared to many other countries).

We obsess about flags instead of getting our citizens involved in their government.  Our persistent failure to correct this situation is mind-numbing.  It’s like being a baseball player at bat in the 9th inning.  He could tie the game with one swing of the bat, but strikes out.   Instead of focusing on putting the wood of the bat on the ball, he’s obsessing about drinking champaign and having his photo in tomorrow’s newspaper.  He’s spending his energy at the wrong level.  The waving of American flags is like thinking of drinking champaign while at bat.  By waving flags instead of educating and empowering the People, we’re waiving real democracy.

For a strong democracy we need fewer flags, fewer Pledges of Allegiance and a lot more participation by informed citizens.  This would start with an active and vigorous media.