We agree on the basic principles, but...
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Originally posted by MrSelfDestruct
[B]I do vote, but last time I protested and spoke about my views (during the Iraq war) I was physically assaulted and called a number of names. [b]
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Nobody should be assaulted for speaking their mind, but the name calling is harmless and you have to expect to ruffle feathers when you're bucking the status quo.
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If I engage in civil disobediance, I lose any hope of financial assistance for college, and lose my federal loans.
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What if that's the price of freedom and a clear conscience? We all seem to think that liberty should be painless and should come without struggle or effort. Sometimes you have to be willing to make sacrifices, or at the very least to be resourceful in the face of overwhelming resistance.
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I would run for office, but it seems that everyone considers anyone less than twice my age incompetent to hold any position that would be able to make a difference. Even in local government, it's impossible to run for office without being rich.
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This is the kind of apathetic reasoning that keeps decent people from running and basically hands elections to the elite. It's not impossible to
run without being rich, though it may be exceedingly difficult to
win if you're not rich. Sometimes just the act of running shifts the discourse and brings ideas to the public debate that may otherwise be left unsaid.
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I agree that it's pointless and immature to object to the existance of a flag, but I do say that nobody should be forced to stand and salute.
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They're not forced to stand and salute. The mere existence of a flag on property does not require any kind of allegiance. If they are willing to use taxpayer dollars to fund their learning center, they should be subject to the applicable laws. You can't have it both ways - take public money given by the grace of the state, and then turn around and refuse to abide by the laws of the state. If they're so fucking principled, why don't they just decline to use the government-supported learning center, or at the very least decline government funding? Because nobody wants to sacrifice anything for their views anymore, but everyone demands that their opinions be accommodated. I agree with them that the US is a symbol of capitalism, greed, consumerism, imperialism, etc. But I also believe that the flag itself can be seen as a symbol of the good things about America - tolerance, diversity, flexibility, freedom, etc. There are more productive ways to teach one's children about the values you want to instill than making a huge and hypocritical issue about a piece of cloth.