[The Urban Sombrero]

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Let's see: a professed veteran seems to argue that military service is required in order to peacock at length about patriotism, pontificate ad nauseum about national defense. Please. No civilian in America has to stand and pledge allegiance. No civilian has to salute the President. No civilian has to pass some bogus test to comment on matters foreign and domestic. If a man wants to kneel during the national anthem to highlight an issue of conscience, this is America. So be it. If a sports team reaches concensus about staying in the locker room during the national anthem, so be it. This is America. We don't have to like it. We can spout off about it. We can question motives and strategy and argue for boycotts and turned off tv's. What we don't dare do is forget that America is a place where one person, group, or President does NOT get to shut down the voice, the right to protest, the act of conscience, for these are protected by the Constitution, and are sacred to the American experiment.