By Jim Fisher
I am a middle child. You know the one always in trouble. I don’t know why but I always had rebel tendencies. I never ate my vegetables; I had to sit at the table all evening playing with the carrots on my plate because I refused to eat them. Things didn’t get any better when I started school. I hated doing homework the same silly thing over and over again. I wasn’t discourteous to the teacher I just questioned why she was making me do something. The result was I got to know the principle very well. As a young boy I liked playing army. Maybe because of my rebel tendencies, I always chose the Confederacy or maybe I just liked the gray uniforms better than blue. Anyway I would draw the confederate battle flag on a piece of paper, grab my broom stick and off to battle I would go. When I got a little older I actually sewed together a bars and stars and flew it from my broom stick.
Now, high school wasn’t much better for me. The things that were redundant and had rules to follow I just didn’t care. The subjects where I could freely express my point of view were the classes I enjoyed. My grades reflected the same.
Back then, I loved watching a weekly TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. The story of a family dealing with the corruption, of the county’s Roscoe p Coletrane who was handled by the money guy Boss Hogg. Sound familiar? And then there was the General Lee, a sweet 69 Dodge Charger. That car was not constrained by any rules or regulations and it flew that battle flag, literally!
When I went to College I had purchased a rebel battle flag and posted it on the ceiling of my dorm room. I clearly understood the events leading up to the formation of the Confederacy. I also under stood the determination of our 16th president to preserve our nation as a whole. For me the stars and bars was my defiance against the things I didn’t agree with. The stars and stripes is what gave me freedom to make that choice.
I broke some rules while I was in College but my choice in the courses I took reinforced my ability to take advantage of my decisions. And my grades reflected that.
After college I folded the rebel flag and put it away because I had joined the US Army and as a solider I served under one flag only and that was the United States of America. I didn’t lose my tenacity to make my own choices though.
Now, I am not one who breaks the law. Well, I have received a few speeding tickets. But overall I respect our system of laws. It’s when the government that is supposed to protect me with those laws pressures me with burdensome regulations and taxes that the rebel instinct begins to push back.
That rebel flag in our history is a reminder to our beloved Uncle Sam that they should not be pushing, regulating or constricting the freedoms of we the people. That flag is a reminder that our federal government needs to listen to the will of the people and based on some recent activity by our current federal administration, I don’t think they are.
I recently bought a sweet Dodge truck that I found in a Southern state. I think I’ll name that truck “Stonewall.”
Jim Fisher has lived on a small farm outside of Hudson for 30 years. Jim has been married to Jayne for 36 years. Together they have raised two daughters. (no grandchildren). Jim has served on the Unit Five Board of Education. Jim works with the McLean County Tea Party.
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