Hate If You Must Helms' Old Gray Head, But Spare Your Country's Flag, She Said
Andrew, a little extremely:
Here’s a story to cheer you up:
L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he’d ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley [my emphasis!]. When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours’ delay, one of Eason’s employees hung the flags at half-staff.
Bad news: other than POTUS, only the governor of the state may order the flag to be at half staff to honor the death of a national or state figure. Indeed, Gov. Easley was simply carrying out the duties of his own office. The flag is to be flown at half staff the day, and the day after, a Senator or Representative dies. Bone up on your flag honor code here.
James,
The the highest form of patriotism is dissent doncha know. Flag codes lead to a shallow and false sense of patriotism, like flag pins . . .
— Kevin Holtsberry · Jul 9, 06:59 PM · #
Ah, but flag codes are concise and enumerated, while flag pins can grow and grow and grow…
— James · Jul 9, 07:43 PM · #
Concision and enumeration are poor substitutes for ethical application.
— Freddie · Jul 9, 09:08 PM · #
What happens if the decreased who’s supposed to be honored is a total racist, homophobic douchebag? BTW, I didn’t know there were multiple Helms all owning the same head.
— tas · Jul 9, 09:09 PM · #
The code seems only to cover current members of Congress.
— Bill Harshaw · Jul 9, 09:44 PM · #
The English Teacher speaks: tas, the plural of “Helms” would be “Helmses”; the possessive of Helms is “Helms’” (as James has it) or “Helms’s.” I prefer the latter, but James is within the boundaries of correctness. Nihil obstat.
— Alan Jacobs · Jul 9, 10:17 PM · #
Seems pretty clear who the hatemongers are.
— Thomas Jackson · Jul 9, 10:29 PM · #
The classic English class conundrum: undergrads just can’t bring themselves to write “Dickens’s”. But it’s right.
— Freddie · Jul 9, 10:43 PM · #
I disagree with Freddie’s Concision and enumeration are poor substitutes for ethical application. Let’s be clear here — I am perfectly aware of what Helms was, I consider the ideas he championed loathsome, and I hope I’ve done my bit to raise opposition to them [although I’m also a little disgusted by most of the Helms criticism this week — not that I think it’s factually wrong, but it’s something I find repulsive at the time of a man’s death. For some short time we ought to choose to err — even if knowingly — on the side of our common humanity and be gracious when it costs us nothing]. But surely giving Helms the half-mast flag is in fact ethical application.
Like it or not — and I don’t — Helms was elected a Senator, repeatedly. And that flag is the political emblem of America’s people, who apparently supported the guy. A lot of them, for a long time. You lower the flag for those elected officials because the very fact of their election shows that they were representative of what that flag stands for in the minds of its people. Now, you couldn’t pay me enough to go to Raleigh and pay me respects to Helms. I think less of those who did. But I’ll half-mast a public flag for him. Not to do so is to misrepresent the country. Our body politic has grievous flaws in it, and it is entirely appropriate that its symbols and their use share those flaws.
— Sanjay · Jul 10, 01:19 AM · #
That’s a very good point, and of course it’s the point James was making in the first place— if you’re going to make it a set ritual, it’s a set ritual. I don’t know… I guess I simply reject that kind of ceremony when it produces ends that seem so undesirable. But then this kind of respect for tradition in ceremonial and scared rites is the kind of conservatism I’m probably most affectionate for.
— Freddie · Jul 10, 01:39 AM · #
At least the Democratic political machine in this state still upholds common decency. I didn’t vote for Jesse the one time I could have, and when he was on the verge of retirement, I sent his office an ill-tempered e-mail encouraging the same. But now I wish I hadn’t. Over time I’ve come to appreciate much of what he championed, and while it seems pretty clear that he never completely came to terms with the worst of his errors, he also spoke quite clearly and positively about many important issues. RIP.
— J. G. Pair · Jul 10, 02:14 AM · #
It’s not conservatism, Freddie. And it’s not just that it’s a “set ritual,” it’s a good and sensible “set ritual.” It’s making a solid distinction between political symbols and political honors, and moral symbols: it’s love of country versus willfully blind patriotism. Helms won the highest of our systems political honors — the trust of his voters — and should be accorded the appropriate political symbols if anyone is. Do it ironically if you will, but do it. There’s an analogy to military issues here — you do what the law says you do, you uphold the country’s political authority, and you know when to deploy your own morals. What you would have a civil servant (or soldier: flags at Fort Bragg were at half mast too) do, is mix his personal morality with his civic charge. That’s just as wrong when it cuts for you, as against you.
— Sanjay · Jul 10, 03:02 AM · #
I don’t see why anyone would be upset with how this went down.
This fellow Eason’s got a code. It says he doesn’t lower the flag for unrepentant racist homophobes who happen to die. Well, fine. The state of North Carolina also has a code. It says you lower the flag when a Senator dies, and in any case state employees are bound to follow the governor’s orders (of which lowering the flag for Senator Helms is one). The codes conflict, greater rank prevails, Eason resigns and keeps his dignity, and the flag ends up at half staff.
In other words, Eason sacrificed his job for his beliefs and the law was followed in his absence. We can honor Eason for his self-sacrifice and his principles. We can also honor the governor for preserving and enforcing the law. This is how it’s supposed to work.
Personally, I like Eason’s pluck and I agree with him about Helms and the kind of homage he deserves. But I don’t see anything wrong with Eason losing his job over his insubordination. If he doesn’t like the way the system works, he ought to run for office and change it.
— southpaw · Jul 10, 05:32 AM · #