Soon, Old Glory will have to be born in the land of the free and not merely flying over it.

Congress has passed a proposal to require the federal government to purchase only American flags that have been completely manufactured in the U.S. The U.S. imports millions of American flags from overseas, mostly from China, and the sponsors of the proposal said it’s time for American flags to originate in the country they represent.

Supporters of the proposal, led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said the change is more than just symbolic — they believe it will support American jobs and manufacturers while preserving the nation’s most recognized banner.

  • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    In the US today:

    • women can vote
    • people of all races can vote
    • people of all races can own property
    • there is no (official) slavery
    • gay people can marry (for now)
    • your boss isn’t allowed to fire you because you are gay
    • your boss isn’t allowed to fire you for religion
    • we got the 40 hour work week and weekends
    • child labor is (mostly) outlawed
    • women can go to college
    • prohibitions like on alcohol and marijuana are slowly fading away
    • the grocery store has avocados all year long

    But yeah, nothing ever changes incrementally. All those activists who worked their whole lives to peacefully bring these things about, well, that was a waste.

    ETA: I’m aware that the end of slavery was not quite “peaceful.” I stand by the point that things are getting better all the time, and that it is mostly from incremental gains.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      3 months ago

      Literally none of that was achieved via incremental politics.

      • women can vote
      • people of all races can vote
      • people of all races can own property

      All arrived at via constitutional amendments after mass protests opposed by moderates at the time.

      • there is no (official) slavery

      Penal slavery is still rampant and officially allowed. And a fucking CIVIL WAR to get rid of chattel slavery is about as far from peaceful incrementalism as you can get.

        • gay people can marry (for now)
      • your boss isn’t allowed to fire you because you are gay

      Supreme court decisions after the incrementalist moderates had gotten nowhere for decades, even passing things like DADT and DOMA.

      • we got the 40 hour work week and weekends
      • child labor is (mostly) outlawed

      Thanks to mass protests and other actions by the labor movement opposed by moderates at the time.

      • women can go to college

      Again due to mass protests and opposed by moderates at the time

      • prohibitions like on alcohol and marijuana are slowly fading away

      No thanks to moderates, who have been dragging their feet until they could no longer get away with it

      • the grocery store has avocados all year long

      Due to sellers of fruit wanting to make money selling fruit.

      But yeah, nothing ever changes incrementally

      Nothing significant, at any rate.

      All those activists who worked their whole lives to peacefully bring these things about, well, that was a waste.

      Many of these weren’t brought about peacefully and, as I’ve already explained, none of them incrementally.

      • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        Every one of those things was incremental. Of course women never had a partial right to vote which grew stronger all the time. They suddenly had all of that right at once. But the process that got us there was incremental change in people’s perceptions and attitudes. And that whole issue was one increment in the broader picture of all rights and protections for all people.

        I’m very grateful to be alive today (and in the US) rather than 150 years ago. I owe most of that thanks to folks who worked peacefully, often in the face of terrible violence, to persuade good people to rethink their bad policies.

        We have much further to go, of course.

        • Krauerking@lemy.lol
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 months ago

          New Jersey women who were land owning could vote since 1776 and in the 1800s Wyoming and Utah would pass universal suffrage rights to women because they were not states but territories.

          Utah would later lose that after women disagreed with the men of Congress on polygamy and restrictions were put in place including voting.

          New Jersey would lose their right during a later amendment but Colorado and California and Idaho all passed state referendums on women’s suffrage before the federal change.

          Seriously what’s up with US history classes? Suffrage is very interesting and has a lot of weirdness.

          Look at Sweden who only allowed Widows and divorcees to vote after changing it from Guild members of any gender or race. And then it gets even more messy.

          Rights, It’s about getting it more and more accepted until it becomes impossible to ignore and then getting it protected through legal and community means. Nothing ever stops either and it’s a slog to keep going.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          3 months ago

          Every one of those things was incremental

          No. That’s flat out false. The literal opposite of reality.

          the process that got us there was incremental change in people’s perceptions and attitudes

          That’s not incremental politics, though, that’s natural cultural progress that happens regardless (if not in spite) of your precious moderates.

          MLK was right about moderates: they always have been and always will be much more devoted to order than to justice.

          • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            3 months ago

            That’s not incremental politics, though, that’s natural cultural progress that happens regardless (if not in spite) of your precious moderates.

            I said nothing about incremental politics nor about moderates.

            • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              3 months ago

              So that’s where you want the goal posts to be now that you’ve been proven wrong?

              I’ve said what needed to be said and have better things to do with my time than indulging the bad faith distortions of delusional liberals, so have the day you deserve.

      • Krauerking@lemy.lol
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        This is so wrong it’s insane.

        Suffrage movements took decades of work on average to whole centuries in others, only countries with new charters after WW2 generally having it granted initially.

        Civil Rights started in the 1800s and saw black congressmen and leaders with a back and forth of conservatives battling to take back rights as they were granted.
        Heck if the civil war was about treatment of blacks then you already have a timeline of almost 100 years till the 1960s civil rights movement.

        Labor movements historically lasted for decades and had people arguing for and against labor rights back and forth constantly depending on who was seen as evil because people are fickle and just want to not think about things.

        Women were literally the starting point of prohibition as they blamed drugs and alcohol on spousal abuse and carried that misconception for long after it eased.

        And innovations in storage, refrigeration and greenhouse crop growing has made availability of produce a viable option so that yes! People that want to sell and make money off of it can!

        Everything in this world changes incrementally even the fucking weather that is getting worse hasn’t just gone full day after tomorrow on us cause it’s just not how reality works.

        I’m in staunch support of doing what is needed to keep moving forward but it’s never just one solution of violence or passiveness or even one movement at a time. Everything is constantly happening always.
        Give peace a chance.
        Give violence a chance too.

        They are all just tools to be used and not a solution.

        Take a breath and let’s get moving but it’s not always forward. And maybe read a history book before negating the work of thousands of people over centuries.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago
      • They’re literally purging the voting rolls right now.

      • They’re literally purging the voting rolls right now.

      • You sure can own stuff. Good luck buying it.

      • There is official slavery. Read the 13th Amendment again.

      • Your Boss can fire you for anything at any time.

      • Your Boss can fire you for anything at any time.

      • The 40 hour work week is weaponized against hourly employees and non existent for salary employees.

      • Child labor is literally back on the menu in red states. And unenforced except for under age immigrants in blue states.

      • College requires selling yourself into lifetime debt.

      This list wasn’t incremental. When these things happened they were big fucking deals and not baby steps. If we wanted to outlaw child labor again we’d invent some stupid scheme where kids had to spend increasingly less time at work until employers voluntarily stopped hiring them. Instead of how we actually did it. Not only have we allowed all of this to be seriously degraded in the post Reagan era, we’ve forgotten how we actually got this shit done in the first place. We didn’t ask nicely and accept baby steps.

    • Krauerking@lemy.lol
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      3 months ago

      Perpetual children mindests and their need to have instant gratification is making it so that no victory is a victory. Sad is no fun and life should only be a party.

      Nothing was done in an instant and that is somehow unacceptable. I just want to feel good about a victory for like a minute without chucklefucks who have a very wrong idea of history claiming it’s unprecedented to change.

      If people actually knew how long the women’s suffrage movement lasted and how many turns it took they would likely be very upset and also actually aware of how slow reality often is to move in global ways. Heck women in Utah were granted voting access and then had it taken away after they voted for polygamy against what men thought would happen.

      People have to actually participate and work little by little but that’s so much work and often it’s filled with backsliding and failures and it hurts to lose. So it’s easier to pretend it should just happen overnight and that’s how people change. It’s bullshit and storybook thinking mostly.
      I do wish this was the case but wishing is to action what masturbating is to sex, fun but not the real thing.

    • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      women can vote until some police officer gets them on trumped up charges because he is on a prolife kick

      people of all races can vote as long as they are allowed to new ways to ban people from voting are made up all the time

      yes people of all races can own property if they can afford to $7.25 is still the minimum wage average US citizen’s purchasing power has not increased since about the 60s

      corporations use prison slave labor all the time even McDonalds

      yes for now marriage equality is a thing and Harris is the only loud supporter on this so far that is in the public eye this much

      in right to work states yes they can

      again in a right to work state a boss could fire you because he is having a bad day

      but it takes more than 40 hours to afford just food and housing

      if the people grow up in an environment filled with pollution and negatively they may get to college

      justice for some is justice delayed it should be fifty states under one union

      no cannabis prohibitions are ramping up not getting better bad products have flooded the market due to lack of regulations and lack of lab tested products

      again with the lack of worker’s rights and stagnation of pay yes only if you got the funds for those avocados

      • StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        Just FYI, you’re mixing up right to work and at-will employment. Right to work has nothing to do with with being fired.

          • StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            3 months ago

            Did you read the article you linked to? Because it doesn’t support your point at all.

            again in a right to work state a boss could fire you because he is having a bad day

            In the United States, right to work has nothing to do with at-will employment. Succinctly, right-to-work laws prevent unionized workplaces from requiring employees who opt not to join the union (an option required by the Taft-Hartley Act) to pay toward the cost of union representation. That’s it. It’s all in the article you linked.

            Even the international law definition has nothing to do with at-will employment.