Instead of the rocket's red glare and bombs bursting in air, remember the Liberty Tree.

As tanks prepare to drive through Washington and B2 bombers to fly over it, perhaps it is time to remember what might have been a more appropriate symbol of liberty and revolution: the tree.

Wikipedia Commons

Stephen Messenger wrote in TreeHugger about how an elm tree in Boston became an important symbol: "In 1765, a secretive group of American patriots known as the Sons of Liberty organized a very public demonstration to protest the law, and they chose that elm tree as their meeting spot -- earning it the name 'Liberty Tree'."