To: John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia

John:

The ABC reports you saying that using funding to coerce schools to fly the Australian flag is: "perfectly compatible with the attitude of Australians; the display of the national flag by Australians now is far more regular, far more visible, far more a part of life than what it was when I was 30 years younger."

So this is what you discuss with Dubya? He really has all kinds of tips for you, apparently. Here, his cronies are upholding the retention of the clearly unconstitutional inclusion of religious obeisance within the pledge of allegiance that is used to indoctrinate children (by enforced, daily recitation at schools - recognize that tactic?) and are also backing a flag-desecration amendment (to champion the land of free expression by making it a jailable offense). So, your new edict really is more in line with American practice than Australian. That, by your own admission that flag waving is a relatively recent syndrome in Australia. Perhaps you can conceive that the flag's increased visibility is not "regular," at all, but instead is part of a creeping syndrome. After all, which countries require pledges and obsequiousness towards flags and other facile, jingoist formulas have been standardized. And isn't it an irony that those countries tend to be ones where, whether due to left- or right-wing totalitarian rule, the peasantry (whether rural or consumerist) is schooled in unthinking nationalism - places like Cambodia, China, North Korea (rural), and the United States (consumerist).

Won't it be a sorry day when Australian skepticism is replaced by blind adherence to jingoist formulae. But the thought police of the future will thank you for it, even as the country weakens as a result of it.

Sincerely.