It’s odd that today, June 14th, is Flag Day, in the U.S. There are plenty of other ways governments inspire pride and obedience in their citizens, but I don’t know of any country in the (more or less) free world where such a day exists.
Flags can represent groups or abstract ideals. If it identifies a private group like a church or a company, it’s harmless. If it represents a public group to which some members are forced to belong, it’s different. Except for the rulers of the group and their pets, the flag represents a forced identity and some kind of obligation to serve. Examples are the Nazi flag at official events and the official flag of the old American Confederacy. Individualists will despise this kind of flag.
Flag Day was proclaimed in 1916 by progressive leader Woodrow Wilson, similar to the creation of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892. Francis Bellamywas a socialist who preached that Jesus was like that too. For a long time, grade school students were required to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. This was American exceptionalism, at least in the Western world. Fortunately, decades after Woodrow Wilson’s declaration, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibited the American government from forcing such a profession of faith on people.
A flag flown in a territory, usually the national flag, can also symbolize ideals. Many Americans see flags in this way. Woodrow Wilson believed the Stars and Stripes represented “Liberty and Justice.” His concept of liberty and justice was obviously not shared by everyone, including the victims of eugenics, which he first instituted while governor of New Jersey. The only way an official flag could truly represent everyone in the territory was if it was the flag of the state. General Ideal, Shared everyoneA common ideal necessarily excludes those who are victims of official discrimination and exploitation. From the libertarian or classical liberal point of view, national flags and territorial banners are respected only if they symbolize the ideal of equal freedom.
We should not expect people who are exploited or discriminated against by their government to shamelessly worship that government’s flag, yet many do. This illustrates what Bertrand de Jouvenel called “the mystique of civil obedience” (see his book The Mystique of Civil Obedience). Power OnA variety of hypotheses have been put forward to explain this mystery, ranging from species tendencies (perhaps genetically innate) to government propaganda or resistance as a matter of collective action.
The ideal of equal freedom for all is not easily achieved. Why I’m Not a ConservativeJames Buchanan presents this ideal as a hope and a belief, even though we know since Adam Smith that a self-regulated social order by equally free individuals is possible and leads to general flourishing. One danger is nationalism, which most territorial flags seek to fuel. At the other extreme, too much diversity can eliminate the possibility of common values necessary for the maintenance of a liberal society. For example, imagine two religious subgroups of people who worship God A and God B, respectively, and believe that God wants them to kill infidels. The set of common values becomes a null set, and equal freedom becomes impossible.
In the United States and many Western countries, there is a memory, or even a hope, for an ideal of individual liberty (and property) that can effectively prevent continued conflict between individuals and their beliefs, preferences, and lifestyles. It is not easy to find a national or territorial flag that clearly conveys this ideal.
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