Ithaca HOURS
Community Currency
since 1991
    This website is maintained by the founder of Ithaca HOURS.
The official website of the Ithaca HOURS board of directors is at ithacahours.org
 Paul Glover consults for grassroots economic development as GreenPlanners.
HOME INTRO CURRENCY SUCCESSES HOW-TO BOOK PUBLICITY ESSAYS BY GLOVER

The Enemy Within

by Paul Glover, Ithaca Times, March 1991

As the US was about to attack Iraq for the first time, my letter to editor was published:

Angry flag-wavers have patriotic feelings, like pit bulls have feelings, but they are not patriots.  They are America's worst enemies, and they get troops killed.

    For years, the USA's genuine patriots acted to protect America from massive invasion by poison water, soil and air; to protect American jobs; to keep banks honest; and to challenge undemocratic corporations and bureaucracies.  We have proposed energy legislation and changed our lives to make America safe from imported oil.

  Meanwhile furious flag-wavers condemn flag-burning, and burn our country itself, in their cars.  They enriched Saddam Hussein and Kuwait's dictator.  They are the enemy within, gobbling petroleum products and then throwing America away, into wastebaskets.

    Many flag-wavers are too lazy to recycle, insulate, ride the bus, bicycle, read independently, run for office, or do anything difficult for America.  They therefore try to throw their own guilt at those who protest this war.

    Some are brave TV war fans, cheerleaders at death, too cowardly to sign up either to fight or to protest.  They will be responsible for dead arms, legs, manhood and friends.  As after Vietnam, many will fail to shelter the demoralized veterans; they will hide from the orphans.


War fans spit on the principles of the American Revolution when they charge obediently wherever their president points our flag.  Many flag-wavers know little about the US Constitution, but can explain soap operas and football in detail.

    Some have phoned death threats to Ithaca's anti-war leaders.   Others have punched protesting Ithaca High School students, or publicly threatened violence.  These are the worst traitors to the American way.  Although they would be good citizens of a dictatorship, allowing themselves to be driven mad with hatred and fear by sensational media, they are bad citizens of a democracy.  The USA needs creative activists, not flag slaves.

HOME INTRO CURRENCY SUCCESSES HOW-TO BOOK PUBLICITY ESSAYS BY GLOVER