Patriotism in Practice: Everyday Americans and Their Flags
On my block, you can read a morning in fabric. The old carpenter on the corner tugs a halyard and sends up a 3 by 5 that he has mended twice. The nurse across the street hangs a thin nylon flag on a leaning porch pole before her 12 hour shift. A young couple on the next cul de sac swaps between a heritage flag from their grandparents’ homeland and a team banner on Saturdays. Across town, a veteran ties a fresh POW MIA flag beneath his U.S. Flag before driving to the VA for
Patriotism on Permission: When Did Loving Your Country Need Institutional Approval?
A few summers ago a neighbor called to ask if I could help him take down a flag. Not the Stars and Stripes, but a weathered service banner he had hung from a second‑story balcony at his townhouse. The homeowners association had sent a notice, citing uniform appearance rules and line‑of‑sight concerns for the courtyard. He felt singled out. A month earlier, another neighbor had hung a Pride flag with no issue. He wasn’t angry as much as bewildered. If the First Amendment to
Defending Our Freedoms: The Constitution’s Enduring Guardrails
Late on a Saturday, I lower the old flag that rides the breeze over my porch and switch it out for a different one. Some weekends it is a crisp Betsy Ross with a circle of thirteen stars. Other times it is the rattlesnake coiled over the words Don’t Tread on Me. If we are marking a family milestone, I might run up my great-grandfather’s regimental colors, a reproduction my cousin and I pieced together from faded photographs. Neighbors wave. A few stop to ask questions. One
Flying the USA Flag—Why Is It Easier to Remove a Flag Than Defend It?
A few summers ago, a property manager in a midwestern office park called me with a dilemma. A tenant had hung a crisp American flag in the shared lobby after a relative returned from deployment. Another tenant complained that it made the space feel “political.” The manager pulled the flag down before lunch to avoid an email Confederate Flag Store chain and, as she put it, “keep the peace.” No policy required removal. No law discouraged it. Risk avoidance did. 🧠 Abo