Deep divisions on display in Haddam
We’re confused. The flag stands for freedom and respecting differences of opinion, yet Haddam Selectwoman Melissa Schlag must step down (or compulsorily salute) because others disagree with her form of protest? Comply or resign is not freedom.
The profound social and political divisions that are tearing at the fabric of our nation were played out Monday in a most unlikely place, a volunteer firehouse in the bucolic village of Haddam, nestled close by the Connecticut River.
It was at a Board of Selectmen meeting, a meeting few would normally have paid any attention. But on this night the firehouse was packed with people, most of them angry. State news media had dutifully gathered to record the Trump-era drama.
This was Make America Great versus America is in peril.
Two weeks earlier, Selectwoman Melissa Schlag had made the decision to express her distress over the presidency of Donald J. Trump. The lying, the villainous treatment of refugees seeking asylum on the nation’s southern border, stripping them of children, had left her distraught. Trump’s deferential post-summit press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his failure to condemn Putin’s interference in our 2016 election, was a last straw.
Schlag decided to kneel during the Pledge of Allegiance.
The image was recorded and distributed across social and traditional media.
What Schlag considered a form of respectful protest others saw as an insult, demeaning the U.S. flag and in the process those who had fought and died to defend it, returning in caskets draped in it.
Into that firehouse came perspectives so different they left no room for mutual understanding. In that way, it reflected the state of our nation.
On Monday, Schlag knelt again; hand over heart as she recited the pledge. She did what she thought was right, even in a room full of people glaring and fuming. It was courageous. And it was a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment. But it was also misguided. Schlag is an elected leader. With that position comes an expected level of decorum. She represents the people of Haddam, all of them. In that capacity, it was wrong to drop to her knees during the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which that flag stands.
It is also hard to see what Schlag hopes to achieve. She is getting much attention, certainly. But does her form of protest bring any chance of changing minds about Trump and his presidency? Unlikely.
But while disagreeing with Schlag’s form of protest, it must be further noted the anger displayed was out of all proportion to her actions, the political exploitation of the moment revolting, and the contradictions voiced by Schlag’s critics confounding.
She was accused of symbolically urinating on the graves of soldiers killed in battle and told to leave the country. Hate mail fills her inbox.
Earlier in the day a “stand for the flag” rally was organized by state Sen. Art Linares, R-Westbrook, and Tim Herbst, former first selectman of Trumbull. Linares, who in 2012 defeated Schlag in a Senate race, is running for state treasurer, Herbst for governor. They apparently did not want to miss the opportunity to wrap themselves in the flag two weeks before the Aug. 14 Republican primary.
Herbst observed that the U.S. flag “stands for the fundamental ideal that we can have differences of opinion.” True enough.
Linares offered that, “This isn’t about taking anyone’s rights away. This is about celebrating the flag and respecting the freedom our country represents.”
Yet both Herbst and Linares have demanded Schlag’s resignation.
“I am asking the Republicans, the people of Haddam, to demand that Melissa Schlag resign from her position and that she apologizes to the people of Haddam, to the veterans of Haddam who have served our country with the ultimate sacrifice and that she actually salutes the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance,” Linares had stated earlier.
“She needs to resign immediately. One of the things our flag stands for, it stands for our freedom. It stands for our democracy. It stands for the fundamental ideal that we can have differences of opinion,” Herbst said, appearing on “FOX and Friends.”
We’re confused. The flag stands for freedom and respecting differences of opinion, yet Schlag must step down (or compulsorily salute) because others disagree with her form of protest? Comply or resign is not freedom.
This entire drama is a distressing sign of the times.