NFL players kneeling in patriotic protest

This got passed to me, but the author got stripped off. It's one of those thinfs I wish I had written.

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The NFL players are people expressing their Constitutional rights of free speech. Their private corporate employers can fire them, or not, since doing so is not a violation of the First Amendment. In contrast, the President of the United States speaking to squelch their First Amendment rights, and - again - using inflammatory language to do so, skirts the issue - again - of violating the Constitution, and - again - diminishes the Oval Office.

The root problem is inequality in America. The root problem is the rich and powerful exploiting the government of the people, by the people, for the people to oppress and abuse the people, rather than to serve the people.

In classic Orwellian fashion, the rich and powerful have again exploited the media machine to manipulate the people into some stupid argument about who is a "real patriot," and so we bicker and swagger about "who's a good boy" (or girl, or non-binary gender identifier), instead of being smart and recognizing the root problem: that billionaires are yanking our chains, like dogs, to get us to fight with each other, while they steal our money and our rights, and call us ungrateful slobs for not thanking them.

Meanwhile, the flag is a symbol that gets misused daily, and the National anthem is a song that most people can barely sing only when someone plays it for them. The idea that "real patriots" kow-tow to a government that most of them bitch and whine is "too invasive," and "out to get them," is insane.

http://taskandpurpose.com/flag-code-explainer-trump-nfl-national-anthem/