Flag Day
A Celebration of the American State and Defense of Its Citizenry
There are those who shun the state, speak poorly about the Volk, and promote a stateless world of individuals governed by local communities of private property owners in a society of voluntary free markets. These people are called libertarians. They understand that the monopoly power over a right or resource upon which everyone depends is an important source of danger to the freedom of everyone and should be rejected. They are fierce defenders of competition and voluntary collaboration to achieve certain goals. They are strong proponents of the institution of family, and acknowledge cultural, linguistic, and geographic differences. This said, they are not cultural relativists, for they emphasize the notion of free will and the responsibility of the individual for his own thoughts, speech, and behavior. Any culture that does not cultivate these fundamental notions are considered sub-optimal to human flourishing and should be rejected. I appreciate well their way of thinking and understand why most will likely not be celebrating Flag Day and speak badly among themselves about the military parade organized by our nation’s current president in honor of the 250th anniversary of the formation of the Continental Army by the 2nd Continental Congress in 1775 somewhat after the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of the same year.
Indeed, the state (written small) is an important source of monopoly power — it is a monopoly of the right to the use of force.
It is how the American state exercises this monopoly power over its citizenry that makes America what it is; it is the belief in the underlying philosophy of the exercise of this power that makes us American. Today the American philosophy of governance, and the way in which the American state exercises its authority barely coincide. It is this that is the tragedy of the American story, and it is this story that the current president is seeking to heal. The celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Continental Army — the forerunner of the US Army — is simply one of the many ways that he has sought in recent years to restore the image and circumstances of the American state. Today’s parade and celebration is preparatory action for what is to come in 2026 when we, the citizenry of the American state, celebrate our 250th anniversary since we declared independence from the British empire. It is also the President’s way to remind the Washington, D.C. establishment who is in charge — the only individual in the United States government who represents the entire nation through electoral mandate.
Although a standing military was not the intent of our founding fathers, defense of the nation and itself is the primary duty of the state, and in today’s world few states can survive without a standing army. The technology required to conduct modern warfare is simply too advanced to muster at a moment’s notice at the time of an invasion. But, what exactly is to be defended?
For example, it is not the responsibility of the American state to become involved in the civil and criminal disputes involving the person and property of American citizens. Rather its job is to defend the person and property of American citizens when the threat is from the members of other states or stateless persons. In contrast, it is the individual State (written large) and Commonwealth governments that comprise the 50 States defended by the American state who are responsible for the settlement of domestic disputes — namely, civil and criminal infractions between us, the citizenry of each State or Commonwealth.
In the end it is difficult to speak about the American state in a terribly positive way, because the reality of the state today and the philosophy of American governance that gave rise to it are so very different. In 1787 the preamble to the US Constitution read
We, the People, of the United States in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The idea to “form a more perfect Union” was to improve the way in which the various confederated American states worked together under the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) to stand as a unified front against the empires of Europe that threatened their existence. It was not to create a more centralized government capable of micro-managing the American economy and the affairs of American citizens. Neither was it an ideal toward which we should strive in the future; rather, it was the reality of the day that we were asked to preserve. When Benjamin Franklin exited Independence Hall after he and his colleagues’ decision to submit the US Constitution to the citizenries of the various American states for ratification he answered the question of a prominent fellow citizen,
Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?
with
A republic, if you can keep it.
Today, we have neither a monarchy, nor a republic. Rather, we have a system of corruption based upon a phony money supply that rewards a deeply entrenched political bureaucracy, an ever increasing number of non-producing entitlement seekers, and an aristocratic elite comprised of our nation’s politicians, bankers, and their closest allies among a select number of corporatist globe trotters, at the expense of our nation’s producers.
When American history is taught in our public schools the American ideal and the American reality should be taught side-by-side, and this ideal and reality should be explained to our nation’s youth in such a way that they can understand how we have drifted so far away from where we were at the outset. For, it is only in this way that we will ever find our way back.
Since the signing of the Charter of Liberties in 1100 at the outset of the reign (1100-1135) of King Henry I of England on the other side of the Atlantic, the Anglophonic world — at the time still dominated by French-speaking, Norman conquest — has struggled to forge a system of governance that implies self-rule under the dictum consent of the governed.
There are many so-called Americans today who would bring an end to self-rule. They refuse “to go back” and would replace America’s philosophy of governance with a one-world global government run by technocrats and elite global, corporatist, wealth holders. They would forsake a millennium of evolution that has honored the notion of the free will, private property, individual responsibility, and a system of governance that requires the consent of the governed.
Indeed, more historical propaganda such as what I witnessed today while watching the Flag Day celebration in Washington, D.C. over which President Trump presided is not the solution. This said, it is perhaps an important first step in thwarting the current trend toward a one world government in which state competition is finally eliminated and we all become the servants of a technocratic elite who would treat everyone, but themselves as specimens of scientific manipulation and experimentation.
Happy Flag Day, my fellow Americans! And, Happy Birthday to the US Army and our 47th President, Donald J. Trump. I only ask that we all keep in mind that we still have a very long way to go to restore what we were once challenged to keep, but have failed to preserve by no fault entirely of our own.
Like any nation-state the American state is a product of historical circumstance and the tendency of all states to accumulate power and expand their authority. That we educate our children in a manner that appreciates historical circumstance, the true nature of the American philosophy of governance, and the truth about who we are, from whence we come, and how we can best move forward in the spirit of the American nation.
In liberty,
Roddy A. Stegemann, First Hill, Seattle 98104
Author of Mount Cambitas - The Story of Real Money, “A Call for the Restoration of Monetary Order” (Parts I and II), the Substack series “Let’s End the Money Racket”.