Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Nike & The Flag

July 2, 2019

By Gary Bauer

Nike had a great idea to celebrate America's upcoming 243rd birthday with a new shoe design sporting a patriotic look by featuring the Betsy Ross flag.  Unfortunately, you can't buy it.
 
Nike pulled the shoes from store shelves after Colin Kaepernick complained.  Sources say that the original NFL kneeler found the flag "offensive." A company spokesman told the Wall Street Journal, "Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured the old version of the American flag."

 
In my opinion, this is just an excuse.  I suspect Kaepernick would have objected to any version of the flag, old or contemporary.
 
This is just another example of the left's hatred of America.  Any historical reference about America pre-1860 is considered by some to be so evil that it cannot be displayed.  Monuments to our Founding Fathers are routinely vandalized and at risk of being torn down.
 
And now the left claims that the Betsy Ross flag is a symbol of slavery and oppression rather than freedom and independence from Great Britain.
 
Sadly, a spoiled ingrate like Colin Kaepernick is in a position to tell a conglomerate like Nike what is appropriate.  Yet Kaepernick will never come close to being as important to America as Betsy Ross.
 
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey is reportedly canceling state tax incentives for Nike, tweeting:
 
"Words cannot express my disappointment at this terrible decision.  I am embarrassed for Nike. . . Nike has made its decision, and now we're making ours. . . Arizona's economy is doing just fine without Nike. We don't need to suck up to companies that consciously denigrate our nation's history."
 
The Nike flag flap comes as a new Gallup poll reveals a continuing decline in the percentage of Americans who are proud of our country.  The decline in patriotism is most pronounced among self-identified liberals and our nation's youth.  And that is no coincidence.
 

The vast majority of educators, teachers and college professors, identify as liberals or progressives.  And too often these ideologues are teaching our children anti-American history.