The Grand Old Flag

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2016/10/03/the-grand-old-flag/

Childish protesting is a nasty habit of the political Left.

Much like my toddler who drops to the floor and screams when he doesn’t get his way, American liberals, forgetting that the 1960s ended nearly a half century ago, are again imbibing in juvenile campus protests, hashtag heroism, and outright displays of disrespect for our nation and its flag.  Whether it’s a professional football player, a high school athletic team, or obscure members of the New York legislature, these pointless protests underscore the poverty of so-called progressivism.  

While I consider myself tolerant of the views of others, the idea that protesting the American flag will raise awareness with respect to perceived racial injustice (or any other social justice issue) is troubling to me.  And while the protestors have every right to do what they do, the rest of us have every right to think of these activists as small-minded bullies.

Under the very flag that these protestors hold up as the object of derision and disdain, millions of Americans gave their lives to defend this Republic and the ideas that make it great.  Under the Stars and Stripes, Union forces suffered thousands of casualties at Antietam and Chancellorsville so that an entire population of indentured people could be free.   Rather than a sign of oppression, the flag is a symbol of duty and sacrifice.  It is an icon of honor and courage.

Set foot on the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and you will understand what I mean.  There, in the morning mists rising from the vast fields and hills, even the casual visitor will be struck by the gravity of the events that took place there more than a century and a half ago.  While it is said that time heals, the slaughter and pain that occurred there in 1863 still haunts every inch of the land.  The blood spilt on those fields still defines the place and haunts every inch of grass.  

Ultimately, after five days of fierce fighting, and nearly 50,000 casualties, Union forces prevailed at Gettysburg.  To the soldiers who fought and died, the Flag was the symbol of their personal sacrifice.  It was the symbol under which they rallied and devoted their loyalty and their lives.  It did not represent their individual rights; rather, it stood for the rights of millions of other souls created in the likeness of God, who, born in fetters, were treated as chattel and deserved to be free.  Elizabeth Ward Howe wrote in “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “as Christ died to make men holy, let us die to set men free.”  The flag is the representation of Ward’s call to action.  

Today, the United States is the freest, most tolerant nation in the history of the world, and the flag serves as a reminder of the substantial journey our predecessors took to make that happen.  The flag we salute in 2016 is the flag under which our grandparents froze at Valley Forge, sweltered at Monmouth, and perished in the trenches of Europe.  It is the flag under which our fallen are buried and our heroes are honored.  From the fiery rubble of the Twin Towers, it was the symbol of America’s resolve to challenge evil and overcome hatred.    




Yet to many, the flag is merely another piece of fabric or a prop to be set ablaze at rallies.  But by protesting it in public, political radicals attack the very symbol of freedom they claim to protect.  The flag protests are just another symptom of a nihilistic, progressive obsession of dividing the American people for the purpose of bringing attention to the social justice issue du jour.  They are hollow publicity stunts orchestrated by attention seekers exhibiting a near pathological desire to live in the spotlight.  Flag protestors are not socially conscious guardians of justice; rather, they are unimaginative, unreflective, self-centered imbeciles in search of media attention and a pat on the back.  

And while I do not deny that the complaints of the protestors might contain some truth, the American flag is hardly a symbol of oppression or the proper object of the protestors’ disdain.  By treating it as one, neighbors become enemies and we invite the same discord into our homes that ripped us apart in the years preceding the Civil War.  Despite our imperfections, Americans must remain united and the flag is the symbol of that unity and common purpose.  After all, we are “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.”

Glen A. Sproviero is a commercial litigator in New York. Read his previous columns here.