Patriotic Ceremonies

Exceptions to majority rule

Students pledging to the flag with the Bellamy salute, March
1941

No official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion. . . To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds.
― U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 1943, striking down a requirement that school children salute the flag.

One of the things that the flag stands for, the Court said that day, was the right not to salute it.
— Ira Glasser, 1991. The Supreme Court decision was made in the middle of World War II.


Iwo Jima Flag Raising, Joe Rosenthal, 2/23/45, ©1945 Associated Press

World Trade Center Flag Raising, Thomas E. Franklin, 9/11/01, ©2001 The Record (Bergen County, NJ)

Two patriotic moments. Voluntary, spontaneous, not routine.

Not Getting Our Money's Worth

More than one-quarter of Medicare dollars are spent in the last year of life.
― Todd A. Borus, MD, August 13, 2002

The U.S. has the longest life expectancy of any country in the world.
― Robert Novak on "Crossfire", October 20, 2002

Life expectancy in the U.S. is well below that in Canada, Japan, and every major nation in Western Europe. On average, we can expect lives a bit shorter than those of Greeks, a bit longer than those of Portuguese.
― Paul Krugman, The New York Times, October 20, 2002

Doesn't our high and rising national wealth translate into a high standard of living - including good medical care - for all Americans? Well, no. Although America has higher per capita income than other advanced countries, it turns out that that's mainly because our rich are much richer.
― Paul Krugman, The New York Times, October 20, 2002

Northern Sun Merchandising,
Minneapolis, MN

The U.S. Congress is preoccupied with terrorist threats. But, to my mind, the nursing shortage is a colossal flaw in the American health care system, a life-and-death issue.
― Sheela Murthy, a Washington immigration lawyer advising nurse recruiters and hospitals hiring foreign nurses, February 10, 2003. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration projects that vacant nursing positions, now totaling more than 110,000, will exceed 700,000 by 2020.

Most of the 40 million Americans who lack health insurance pay for our political leaders' health insurance premiums through taxes. Since our leaders as a group have universal health care, why can't they in return find a way to provide that same benefit for us?
― Philip Pollner, MD, chairman of the National Leadership Coalition for Health Care, August 12, 2002