Take Back the Flag

It was ours all along.

Hello, 911? I’d like to report a crime. My flag has been stolen. Right out from under my eyes, it’s been taken. The Republicans have stolen it.

Not only did they steal it, they’ve sullied and abused it. They’ve taken my flag and flown it during violent insurrections and race-baiting riots. They’ve flown it upside down.

The theft is most noticeable now, but it happened quite a while ago. I can’t blame everything (much as I would like to) on Donald Trump. I remember a photo op of Bush Sr. at a flag factory, a little man engulfed in a sea of flapping red white and blue. And now the petty larceny has become grand theft: Old Glory has been co-opted it to the point where flying an American flag in front of your house screams that a Trump supporter lives here. Put a US flag decal on your car and people driving pick-ups with confederate flags will honk approvingly and shout “Go, Trump!” at you.

Of all the things that Conservatives have stolen (abortion rights, feeling safe in a classroom, the opportunity for fair voting districts, etc.), I think this theft makes me angriest. It’s unfair, after all. Democrats are far more patriotic than Republicans—assuming that it’s patriotic to fight for the rights of all Americans to read whatever they want, love whomever they want, be whomever they want.

If we succeed in getting out the vote this fall, we’ll be able to pass laws to protect those freedoms. On this Fourth of July, the Stars and Stripes remind me of that.

I know, I know, the USA is far from perfect. Flag-waving tends to blur the eye and obscure the crimes, the mistakes, the evil that lurks in our history. But the flag can remind us of the times we got it right, like on D-Day. It can remind us that even though the Founders meant that all white straight men were created equal, we’ve begun to try to take those words at the start of the Declaration more literally, to aim at the goal of having all humans be equal.

So this Fourth of July, let’s take the flag back. Let’s reclaim it as a symbol that we all live here, Democrats and Republicans alike. We have to somehow put up with each other underneath those stars and stripes.

I actually own a flag, a huge one. It was draped over my grandfather’s coffin, since he was a combat veteran of WW1. Next time there’s a march or a rally or an event, I plan to bring it and wave it high.

Dear Friends,

Are you more than a little worried about the election of 2024 and wondering what to do about it? I hope you’ll continue to check out The Optimistic Activist.

Every Tuesday I post some ideas for doing something. How to get out the vote, spread the word, and support progressive candidates. Ideas for simple but effective activism. As easy, as practical, as do-able as I can make them.

Together, I think, we could really make a difference.

                               “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.”