By SUZANNE DOWNING
The New York Times suggested on Saturday that if you see a flag flying from the back of a pickup truck, you might be right to think that the driver is a Republican, and that person might be a threat.
“Today, flying the American flag from the back of a pickup truck or over a lawn is increasingly seen as a clue, albeit an imperfect one, to a person’s political affiliation in a deeply divided nation,” the Times tweeted, and linked to a column, “A Fourth of July Symbol of Unity That May No Longer Unite.”
“What was once a unifying symbol — there is a star on it for each state, after all — is now alienating to some, its stripes now fault lines between people who kneel while ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ plays and those for whom not pledging allegiance is an affront,” the writer said.
There’s some truth to that. In my observations over the past year, I’ve noticed that homes with “Black Lives Matter” signs or “In this home we believe” signs on them never have an American flag flying anywhere. It’s as if they are allergic to the Red, White, and Blue.
Some political party, and some political movement is making the American Flag into a symbol of hate, and it’s not the Republican Party. It’s not patriots who are weaponizing the flag, and it’s not veterans or military personnel. It’s not the families across the heartland.
Those who hate America because it is not perfect have taught generations to also condemn the country’s foundations; the lesson has been embedded well in a growing segment of the population, and especially the media.
The New York Times may be leading the charge against the American Flag, suggesting it is no longer an acceptable symbol of our country, but it’s been an infection festering for years, ever since the election of Donald Trump as president.
The cancel culture movement against the flag started softly on the fringes, such as when Mother Jones wrote in 2019 that the flag “represents a country deeply divided along partisan lines, led by a man who disguises bigoted populism as patriotism. It’s also a symbol for a resurgent movement of white nationalists who cloak their hate in the stars and stripes, even as they defend Confederate monuments.”
In Time magazine in 2020, a columnist wrote: “The election of Donald Trump calcified my ambivalence into an ambiguous wariness stemming from an unambiguous truth. The sort of (white) people who clamber to distinguish themselves as the True Americans have weaponized the flag, manipulating it to antagonize those they believe to be less American. Trump didn’t create this dynamic, sure. Prominent American flags are hard to ignore when scanning footage of lynchings and Klan rallies from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. But the bedrock of Trump’s political career is the ceaseless exacerbation of this feeling.”
Now, the New York Times mainstreams the concept that the flag represents what they call “white nationalism.”
Of course, the flag is not all they are trying to cancel. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden’s Administration prohibited a fireworks display on the Fourth of July at Mount Rushmore, one of our nation’s great monuments to freedom and democracy.
The fireworks display at Mount Rushmore on Independence Day is a tradition almost all Americans love. Sometimes it has been canceled due to wildfire danger, but the state of South Dakota cherishes the celebration of the Declaration of Independence.
This year, the Biden Administration said no for purely political reasons. National Park Service Regional Director Herbert Frost wrote in March that his agency is “unable to grant a request to have fireworks at the Memorial. Potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and are still being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event. In addition, the park’s many tribal partners expressly oppose fireworks at the Memorial.”
Ah, there you have it. Radicalized tribal members objected, and the Biden Administration will take a knee. How much longer will it be until the Democrats come after the Washington Monument because the father of our country was not perfect.
“These factors, compiled with the COVID-19 pandemic, do not allow a safe and responsible fireworks display to be held at this site,” the NPS wrote, blaming Covid.
If not at Mount Rushmore, then where on public land would fireworks be appropriate?
They — the mainstream media and the Democrats — are coming for Mount Rushmore and they are weaponizing our American Flag.
If there was ever a time to fly the Stars and Stripes, it is now, as we patiently wait for the infection of hatred that festers in our country to subside. Let your American Flag be the vaccine against this virus of hate that threatens our republic.
Suzanne Downing publishes and writes for Must Read Alaska and Must Read America.
Been flying my flag for over 30 plus years on Memorial Day and Independence Day. The only ones that hate the flag and what it represents are the ones trying to dismantle our lives and the way we think. I’m not buying it, nor bothering with what some fragile baby thinks. If they are offended by our nations flag maybe they should move to another country and see how that works out. This is America, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. It was fought and died for by many. Now we have immature individuals who think every thing is about them, and their feelings that need validation.
Nope they need to grow up. Happy Independence Day to everyone out there, fly your flags PROUDLY from your home or vehicle.. What it represents is worth it… God Bless America and Alaska!
Asking PERMISSION from someone who doesn’t own the land to celebrate FREEDOM on our own land. What’s wrong with this picture?
These people need to shut up. I will proudly fly my flag and they can just go bite a rock.
Please do. I really appreciate seeing those who found a way to fasten their enormous U.S. flags from their trucks and cars, and hearing it flapping down the road.
The one thing I am missing out of the Trump 2020 Campaign is seeing the regular occurrence of American flags wavering behind pick ups and cars.
To use a symbol of Freedom and Hope as a symbol of oppression is ignorance. If the the US Flag is the new Yellow Star, then molṑn labé.
When the flag ripples in the sky it is not the wind making it ripple it is the last breath of a veteran who has defended the flag and freedoms we have. Remember that when you see the flag blowing from its post. Ma6 God Bless my fellow Brothers and Sisters this Independence Day.
While many patriotic Republicans fly their flags as a symbol of unity, Democrats fly their LBGTQ, BLM, peace symbol, Antifa, etc flags as symbols of division. Disruption, division, disharmony. The twisted goals of the God-less Left.
Before I condemn the cancellation of fireworks at Mt Rushmore, I would like to know more about the tribal history of the area. The article doesn’t touch that. Can someone fill us in?
Google “Why Native Americans have protested Mount Rushmore”
You say, “Some political party, and some political movement is making the American Flag into a symbol of hate, and it’s not the Republican Party.”
.
Perhaps your reluctance to expressly call out the actual source of the problem is an example of why we find ourselves suffering from it.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America.
And to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation.
Under God.
Indivisible.
With liberty and justice for all.
That’s the problem…”With liberty and justice for all” is a LIE. Do you know how much lawyers cost? Almost 90% of all those charged with a crime cannot afford a lawyer. They’re appointed a severely overworked “Public Pretender” and even the innocent will end up with a conviction. You got money, you can get away with murder. OJ Simpson for example…or rape, Bill Cosby for example. Civil suit? The entity with the most money almost always wins. Your failure to grasp that this is indeed true is what fuels the flight to the left. If you ever hope for Conservatives to win another election, you should be mindful of this. You pledge allegiance to a lie, the only question is: Do you do it knowingly?
Call this what it is: a full-on Marxist/Communist tactic taken right out of the play book for overthrowing a democratically-elected Republic. Conservative American citizens pretty much just want to be left alone to pursue our occupations and family lives in a civil society, without interfering in the lives of others. We have allowed the infiltration of marxist philosophy into our public institutions and schools of higher learning, and are now witnessing the weaponizing of media & government agencies against the very citizens they were created to inform and defend.
A serious, sincere question: how does a nation survive when it’s media is so profoundly dishonest?
Cancel Culture
The culture to cancel us all
We look on with horrid appal
With no history to guide us
We’ll be on the short bus
To our country’s greatest downfall
At night they come with their fire
In typical black attire
To burn out our books
Be they activists or crooks
Dragging us into their mire
From statues of Lee
To flagmaker Betsy
“We’ll come into town
And we’ll bring them all down
For it’s just a start, you will see”
They take the old ways
And light a purple haze
To set things anew
They’ll say what you can do
As they set the whole thing ablaze
They’ll form a new cultural icon
Tear the old right down to the pion
‘Til your past is gone
And your child be their pawn
To them you’d best keep an eye on
They’ll take all that you knew
And turn it askew
So don’t stand in their way
’cause they’re here to stay
To re-write all things anew
From gender to race
They try to make a new place
The old ways don’t work
Your culture they shirk
They’ve started to form a new base
“Defund the police” they will say
To keep your defenses at bay
A new age they’ll bring to the void
All in the name of George Floyd
This is the price you must pay
So stop them if you can
Else they’ll become The Man
For they want to control
And take a new hold
And continue a devious plan
Your sons and daughters are turned
The historic ways they have spurned
The schools are ablaze
Teaching alternative ways
A socialist view has been churned
A way not unlike before
As has shown through history’s door
Never seemed to work there
Socialists don’t seem aware
But they still want to settle the score
So let’s stop this before it gets worse
And cancel the socialist curse
For we can be free
If we see history
It’s time to look back in reverse
For we are on the edge of chaos
Cancel culture brings us to the loss
Of all things bad and good
To remember as well as we could
The pure as well as the dross
We live in Glacier View, Alaska where we fly our American Flag with the Alaska Flag high and strong.
Antonio
So sorry to hear of your distorted view of Liberty and Justice for ALL.
Indeed there are problems with our justice system, particularly the CRIMINAL justice system. The blame and accounting for this should be layed at the feet of those responsible, namely the CRIMINALS.
However, there is so much more to the concepts of Liberty and Justice than the criminal justice system. The flag is a symbol of IDEALS. I have the liberty to live MY life the way I see fit, provided that I don’t prevent another from living their life the way they see fit. My property belongs to me, and cannot be taken from me by force, but only if I choose to trade it for some other value. I am free to pursue happines however I think is best, by worship or following a religion, or being an atheist, or reading and writing my opinions in a public forum, or playing video games all day, or working and producing, or a myriad of other activities that don’t infringe upon your right to do the same. If a dispute arises between us on these issues, we take it before a judge, who compares the situation to some agreed upon standard, ie the law, and decides whose case is most correct. If I am right, I continue on my course. If I am wrong, I change it. I don’t smash out the windows, point a gun at you, steel your stuff, bash your head in, and then burn down your house on the way out. That is not liberty, and it most certainly is not justice!
Until those who fly left can grasp this concept, this country will continue to devour the bounty provided by these ideals until there is nothing left.
So yes, I pledge allegiance to the flag, the symbol of America’s ideals, and I know exactly what I am doing.
The distortion is all yours, Andrew. I would say “delusional” but you admit to knowing what you’re doing when you spread a LIE. Thanks for that, it will save us all many hours at your trial on Judgment Day. Those IDEALS you speak of REQUIRE an effort on YOUR part and an effort by America to achieve those ideals. Your blaming “criminals” for the serious problems with our justice system makes it clear that you are not making an effort to know the truth…the truth being one of those ideals you claim to cherish! My words weren’t opinion! I used to run a rare coin business. One day the stock (coins) for that business get stolen from my beautiful home right on the Yukon. That was my livelihood…also about a $250,000 (current value) hit to my bottom line! Several years later the coins are found cached in the woods next to the Highway, and turned over to the Troopers. When I try to recover MY property I discover that the Trooper, believing no one would claim them, had stolen the best coins! To cover up his crime, he shows up here at my original homestead with LOTS of heavily armed (M-16s!) Troopers. He claims that he was just walking by my cabin…in the woods…on the literal edge of the wilderness…and smelled what could only be an illegal amount of “budding marijuana”. No bud was found but they seized several non-budding, no odor, plants from my greenhouse. My lawyer, Joe Miller, wanted $25,000 just to start…money I didn’t have and I don’t think he really wanted to do it. So I ended up with a public defender whom the Judge had to threaten with “contempt” because he NEVER did his job! His failures ended up costing the State over a million dollars in unnecessary rural trials, followed by nine YEARS of appeals all the way to the State Supreme Court. Here’s the ‘kicker’…early on, the Judge, prosecutor, even the Troopers admitted, on the record, that the amount of marijuana found was LEGAL! However, the State maintains that since it was found in a greenhouse, it was not legal. The State of Alaska’s position, even now(!) is that Troopers can come onto your property and have a little “looksie” including YOUR outbuildings! Well, actually the State can’t do that in the 4th Judicial District because I devoted 11 YEARS of my life to fighting this injustice. That literally makes me a ‘freedom fighter” and qualified to comment on topics like “liberty and justice”! Closing your eyes to the truth does not qualify you for anything. However, your dedication to a lie is amazing. You think this can’t happen to you? Maybe you accidentally witness a Trooper committing a crime, like I did. Maybe he just doesn’t like your; political views, religion, or race. Won’t matter ‘why’, but I assure you, once you draw their attention, they WILL find something. Thousands of dollars of MY property was seized that day, along with my religious writings(!), and never returned. Was never allowed to file a claim for my coins either! Did I mention that I had a gag order issued against me preventing me from testifying? You know, if YOUR Constitutional rights were violated like mine were you wouldn’t be using that word “ideals”!!! I have no doubt that you will be clueless as to why the peasants are beating down your front door. Tell them to “eat cake”…that will make them your friends Andrew.
Well Antonio, it certainly sounds as though your constitutional rights were violated, and I can understand how that would make you angry and bitter. It sounds as though a thief set the whole thing in motion, and there is no doubt that criminals can hide behind badges, or wear $3,000 suits. Some might even hold powerful positions in the government. Does this make me want to throw my hands up in despair and burn my American flag by which I’ve been so disillusioned? No.
Now let me tell you about some freedom fighters I know. My grandparents were immigrants. Yes, they knocked on the front door of this great land and asked permission to enter. Shortly thereafter, thanks to some kindly help from a church to get them started (since they had nothing but the clothes on their backs) they became citizens, started a business, payed taxes, bought a house, and lived a simple life.
Do you know why they did this, Antonio? They did it because they had nothing left after fighting communists hand to hand in the streets of their city and in their home. Protecting your little pot crop and bag of gold is miniscule in comparison to protecting the honor of your mother and wife and the virtue of your sisters while government sanctioned jackbooted thugs rape and pillage across the countryside in the name of THEIR ideals. The same ideals the socialists in this country are spewing out all over the place, and which will lead to the same results. It’s not a lie Antonio, and it’s not too late.
I fly the flag often. Not in the rain. I don’t use it as an article of clothing, because that is not in accord with the tenets of flag protocols. As I read the hatred in the comments that if you don’t believe as I do, you are not a patriotic, God-loving, American, I am filled with sadness.
I grew up believing Americans were generous, forgiving, forward looking people who wanted the best for everyone who was a fellow citizen or a citizen of the world. Now, it seems, we fight amongst ourselves over every petty thing that doesn’t coincide with our hyper-specific belief in what it is to be an American. I have grown to do this myself, and that is much to my regret. I do long for the sense that we, as Americans and as citizens of the world, that we are all in this together and that the future of our lives and our planet’s life depends more on us than ever before. We have the power to make America great and to help make a troubled, contentious world great through the generosity and forgiveness and forward thinking that has led us, in spite of the pitfalls and setbacks of the past, to the place we are today. Time will tell us what will prevail.
Amen! Excellent comments. Thank you.
Meanwhile, we still have to contend with the wolves who have always been amongst us, and will continue destroying everything good, until that day.
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