"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt

Independence day is coming up, and the more I think about it, the more I get angry.

In the days after September 11th, when the flags sprouted from every freeway overpass and waved from every front porch, I was moved. We're all in this together, we're Americans, we will be strong - I felt like it was a message of unity, a way to show each other that we would be OK. When I went out on September 12th and saw the flags everywhere, I was moved to tears. I felt proud to be an American. I felt like I was one of many.

But then weeks went by, and Our President (as my dad now insists on calling him, even though he didn't vote for Bush, and neither did I) declared "war on terrorism", and I started seeing those tattered plastic car flags in the gutters, and the flags on the overpasses started disappearing one by one. Instead, I started seeing bumper stickers. Giant waving flag stickers, almost always attached to oil-guzzling raised trucks and SUVs, were everywhere. THESE COLORS DON'T RUN. GOD BLESS AMERICA. LET'S ROLL! As things went on, that flag suddenly became a symbol not of unity but of war, blind patriotism, poor gas mileage, conspicuous Christianity and, well, being a Republican. Suddenly I started not feeling so good about this flag thing.

Then I started seeing people who disagreed with the party line being silenced. Bill Maher lost his show, Politically Incorrect, for making a (gasp) politically incorrect statement. The White House, via Ari Fleischer, has given us "reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is." Students at Ohio State were threatened with arrest and expulsion if they turned their backs on Bush during his commencement address. Several journalists have been fired for disagreeing with the White House stance on the "war on terror". Jose Padilla has been detained as an "enemy combatant" without ever being charged with a crime, even though he's a U.S. citizen. The ironically-named USA Patriot Act gives the government more power than ever to read my email, listen to my phone conversations, freeze my bank account, and even search my house. I don't have to be a terrorist. I just have to seem like I might be one.

I think I'm getting the message now. The message is: Wave the flag. Agree with Our President. We are at war, and we will be at war indefinitely. There is no room here for people who disagree with or question us openly. All this will make us safer. Be patriotic and accept everything we have to tell you or you're just as bad as those awful, awful terrorists.

We are supposed to celebrate our freedom this week, just as our freedoms are being taken away. This makes me angry, and afraid - and I don't know what to do about it. I just know that I don't feel OK waving a flag around this week now that I see what it stands for.

"They that can give up liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin