This Fourth of July, I plan to fly an American flag outside my home, a small gesture of celebration of Independence Day and, in a larger sense, a display of my patriotism.
This may be a bit of an odd habit for a lifelong Democrat, as far fewer members of my party would call themselves patriotic.voteMy personal experience with left-leaning friends and relatives across the country speaks for itself: Over the past few years, I have seen many party members shy away from overt displays of patriotism like flying the flag out of disgust and aversion to the associative message it conveys.
While I appreciate this holiday, I urge reconsideration. Now, more than ever, it is important for disaffected people to claim or reclaim their patriotism and display it publicly with pride and dignity. No political party or denomination should claim exclusive ownership of the American flag.
I’m old enough to remember when people of all walks of life and political persuasions would happily fly the American flag on Independence Day, or let their kids carry little flags to wave in parks and parades. It wasn’t as conspicuous as hanging a jack-o’-lantern on your front door on Halloween, but it carried much more weight as a statement, a declaration of pride in being part of a republic.
This sentiment most recently peaked around the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.It began to declineJust a few years later, a gradual decline in the early 2010s coinciding with the second Iraq War turned into a steep decline during the Trump administration, culminating in the January 2021 incident at the Capitol. Waving hundreds of flags.
Among those flags was the American flag.Used as a weaponAgainst the building’s defenders. And of course, there was the retina-burning footage.American flag on a spearA shirtless, helmeted “shaman” holds it up. What sane person would want to be involved in such a spectacle?
But that is precisely the problem: we cannot accept the idea that patriotism is the province of extremists. On the contrary, rational, ordinary people of all parties must assert their own concerns about patriotism, the fundamental expression of which is flying the flag.
Doing so doesn’t mean shaking your fist in someone’s face. It doesn’t mean shouting, “We’re the best.” To me, it’s just a quiet acknowledgment that good things have been done in this country, great things, and that the structures are in place to get even better and greater in the future.
Yes, some institutions have collapsed, our people have become polarized, and we may be paralyzed by an unpredictable future. But we must remember that things are moving forward, work is progressing, people are free to go to work, and our systems are working. For example, thanks to a functioning justice system, many of the perpetrators of the vandalism and attacks of January 6 have been arrested. Tried, sentenced and imprisoned(Indeed, some people, including Sherman, have taken advantage of the leniency built into the justice system. Already out of prison.
July 4thNumberIn the middle of the summer, we stopped and evaluated (and flipped it over).JFK’s immortal quote) Think carefully about what your country has done for you. I think back to my grandparents who immigrated to this country in the 1920s without speaking a word of English, and to my grandparents raising eight children on a farm in Montana with no electricity or running water. And now, all these decades later, I can only marvel at the countless opportunities this country has provided for me to live a healthy, comfortable life.
I know that not everyone is as lucky as I am. I acknowledge that many of us are beaten down by life and barely clinging to hope. I believe that flying our flag is, in a way, an acknowledgment of that. It is not just a symbol of pride and gratitude, but also a symbol of certain scars and failures, and the belief that we can continue to move forward in a better direction.
That’s why I fly my American flag on Independence Day. I don’t care about fireworks, they just make noise. Flying the flag says so much more.
Larry F. Slonaker is a writer living in Central California. He is the author of the novelNothing was broken.”
