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.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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    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
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      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.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        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
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          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
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            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
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        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.

    • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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      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.