The New York Times is nothing if not predictable.
Just before the Fourth of July, it chose to run a story about how flying the flag is now a divisive act. The article opened with a New York state merchant hijacking the flag for commercial purposes, just like car dealers in Texas.
Instead of flying an enormous banner from a flagpole as tall as Jack’s beanstalk, this farmer painted one on the side of his truck to help him sell roadside produce.
The flag appeared to be serving its purpose when a customer noticed and stopped.
But for some reason selling "wild bergamot" was encountering severe customer resistance from this woman. Then, during the course of his sales pitch, our farmer vouched for his liberal bona fides and presto the obstacles disappeared.
"She said, 'Oh, whew. You know, I wasn’t so sure about you, I thought you were some flag-waving something-or-other,'" [He] recalled the woman saying and citing his potato truck [flag]. "That’s why she was apprehensive of interacting with me."
This wasn’t a woman who feared being scooped up in the FBI’s nationwide dragnet for the Jan. 6, 2021 Reichstag Rioters if she bought her wild bergamot from a fellow-traveler.
She’s a woman who thinks there is something wrong with people who aren’t embarrassed by a display of love for the symbol of our nation.
As for our roadside retailer, what he viewed as a sales aid could now be a liability, "Do I need to reconsider having [the flag] out there?"
The good news is, it’s not like he had any real commitment to the flag anyway.
If he can get the leaves on the olive branches right, our farmer can easily replace Old Glory with the United Nations’ flag and possibly increase his customer base.
After the anecdote, we get to the crux of the story, "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."
And the NYT finds a faculty lounge lizard who claims, "Politicizing the American flag is thus a perversion of its original intent. We can’t allow that to happen."
Here is the truth.
Flying the flag, saluting the flag and treasuring what the it stands for is not "politicizing" the flag. It is the default behavior for someone who is a patriot and loves his country.
Attacking those who honor the flag is "politicizing." And it’s disloyal to the nation.
This attack also the modus operandi of the Left and the Left’s stenographers in the media.
Instead of being honest and simply admitting they don’t have any respect for our flag or our nation, leftists try to turn the tables by blaming those who do.
The left characterizes behavior that was normal for decades as suddenly offensive or in poor taste. Their goal is to make patriotic displays slightly distasteful or even gauche.
Keep that flag in the closet and not displayed in all its glory outside.
The fact that Trump voters and patriots in general love the flag and the nation is somehow supposed to reflect poorly on the flag. Next stop: It’s a sign of "white supremacy."
Americans who love the flag are doing what citizens have done since the flag was first designed. They fly it proudly and often. "Divisive" is purely in the eye of the angry beholder.
It only takes six words to summarize The New York Times' latest smear on our nation’s symbols: America haters are also flag haters.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.