John Schneider is defending the flag against those who would tear it down.
“There are people who are saying that our flag is a divisive symbol,” the “Dukes of Hazzard” star told Fox News Digital. “People who are saying that they go into neighborhoods where there’s a lot of American flags and somehow they feel unsafe. These are the same people who a couple of months ago took down the neighborhood watch signs because they thought that that indicated that the neighborhood was unsafe. These people are out of their minds.”
He noted that the neighborhood watch is “neighborhood policing, and I love the police. They’re policing their own neighborhood and saying, ‘Look, don’t bring that stuff to our neighborhood. And if you do, we’ll meet you. We’ll meet at the border.’”
Schneider continued, “So, we live in very interesting times, my friend. Very, very interesting times. But we’re going to get through it. We’re going get through it as long as we have patriots, as long as we have folks who are not afraid to tell – I believe it’s the truth, but I’ll give some of them the benefit of the doubt. People who are willing to tell their truth, openly, unabashedly, unapologetically, like you, right, I hope like me, and we’ll get through it.”
The beloved TV and country music star, who starred on “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Smallville,” “Tyler Perry’s The Have and Have Not’s” and co-founder of The Children’s Miracle Network, did a 45-minute concert to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary on the Freedom Stage in Washington, D.C. as part of the Great American State Fair.
WATCH HERE: JOHN SCHNEIDER DEFENDS AMERICAN FLAG AGAINST DETRACTORS
“It’s an honor because we’re here in D.C., and we were asked by the present administration, so that’s really terrific, so I’m jazzed about it,” the 66-year-old said about being asked to perform for the nation’s 250th anniversary.
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The “Smallville” star revealed that he also celebrated the country’s bicentennial 50 years ago in style when he joined high school bands from all over the U.S. and played the sousaphone in a parade at Disney World.
“It was great,” Schneider said. “For me at that point, it was really spectacular because we got to go behind the flowers and trees at Disney World and saw, you know, kind of the inner workings of it and that was kind of like getting to go behind the curtain where the Wizard of Oz is, so I loved it. So, now to be part of something else 50 years later — I can’t believe that but it’s true. Fifty years later, I’m part of the sestercentennial… And I’m proud of our country. I’m proud of everything that’s going on right now.”
One thing he loves about America is the freedom to debate ideas.
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“I believe that you should be able to express your opinion,” he said, “and have it maybe challenged, but in a friendly manner. Somewhere in the last, I don’t know, maybe six years, it seems like a lot of people, if you disagree with somebody, they just like throw you out. And maybe that’s social media. Maybe it’s the ability to be able to block people.”
One thing he said he hopes never changes about this country is the “desire to celebrate our flag, to celebrate red, white, and blue, to celebrate our freedom, to celebrate those folks who have sacrificed so much in order to give that to us. And there are forces trying to combat that too.”
When asked what freedom means to him, Schneider called it the “opportunity to be able to do with your life or your skill set that which makes you happy. You know, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
He continued, “Pursuit of happiness is not necessarily having a bunch of money. The pursuit of happiness is getting up in the morning and saying, ‘I can’t wait to get to work. I can’t wait to try this. I can’t wait to write this song. I can’t wait to do this woodwork. I can’t wait to fix that car. I want to be the best mechanic there ever was. I wanna be the best lawyer there ever was, I wanna be the best whatever there ever was.’ You can’t do that in other countries. They don’t take it for granted.”
