Jake Lang, artist, J6er, sculpture kicker

 Artistic expression?  There is a certain irony to The Gadsden Flag types that side with heavy handed, undertrained, masked Gov't figures disregarding the assumption of innocence.  Pretty sure thats what the British Loyalists did. I picture the Jake Lang types as a modern version of the loyalist to the Brits during the American Revolution.

The 18th-century Loyalist was a fascinating study in anxiety. They lived in terror of the local revolutionary groups, who often took matters into their own hands and ran crying to the British Army for protection. They wanted the security of an Empire but the moral high ground of a victim.

Fast forward to our modern rattlesnake-waver. He buys a flag that lauds individual sovereignty and distrust of the state. He then spends his Sunday mornings cheering for a federal police force that uses surveillance technology King George III couldn't have dreamt of in a fever or a wet dream at his local intersection.

It is a specific kind of liberty that only applies if you have the right zip code and a valid birth certificate. To the Gadsden-ICE enthusiast, the rattlesnake isn't a warning to the government; it’s a mascot for the border patrol. They’ve essentially turned the snake into a narc.

The original rattlesnake was a warning against being stepped on by a King. The modern version seems to be asking the King if he needs help lacing up his combat boots to do the stepping.

In 1775, the British Army was the "Law and Order" party. They were the ones conducting warrantless searches see the Writs of Assistance to make sure nobody was dodging the King’s cut. If you were a Loyalist, you cheered this on because you weren't the one with a basement full of Dutch gunpowder.

Today’s Gadsden-ICE supporter views the federal government as a "Deep State" monster when it looks at their tax returns or their browser history. But the moment that same federal government puts on a windbreaker and starts checking papers at a Greyhound station, it suddenly becomes the "Thin Blue Line" protecting Western Civilization.

If a 1776 Patriot met a modern Gadsden-ICE enthusiast, the confusion would be total. The Patriot would  be curious Why do they fly the flag of the resistance while polishing the boots of the King’s tax collectors?

The modern enthusiast would likely respond by calling the Patriot a "globalist" and complaining about the price of diesel.

Ultimately, both the British Loyalist and the Gadsden-ICE fan share a singular, desperate hope: that the boot of the state will always be occupied by a foot they recognize, and that it will always land on someone else's neck.