TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): In Washington, D.C. last night, virtually every player on the Raiders sat in protest as a military honor guard carried an American flag onto the field. Now, the sight of pampered millionaires giving the rhetorical finger to the country that made them rich is obviously disgusting, so it's no surprise that in stadiums across America, fans booed when they saw this.
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So, what are these protests really about? Well, some players claim their core complaint is police brutality, in which case, fine. Protest that, learn the facts, make your case, propose solutions. Run for office, try to make the country better. But no, that's too hard. It's easier to follow the demagogues and attack America itself. You'll win plaudits for bravery on Instagram. So, why is this a big deal? Why is it in the end dangerous for this country?
Well, for the same reason we sing the National Anthem for the first place so often, and stand for the flag, used to say the Pledge of Allegiance, all those other slightly silly civic rituals that liberals had long despised and sneered at. Why are they important?
Because in the end, love of country is all we have. We aren't like other nations with a homogeneous population, and a shared history, and religion. Increasingly, we don't even have a common language, so shared belief in America, the country, is the only glue that binds us together.