The Birth of Old Glory
Percy Moran, 1917
When the war for American Independence began 1775, the colonists weren’t fighting under a single flag.
Instead, most regiments brought their own flags. General George Washington realized that a unifying symbol was needed for the combined forces of the various colonies.
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress took a break from writing the Articles of Confederation and passed a resolution stating that “the flag of the united states be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
Today there are those who despise the symbol of resistance to a system of hereditary rule and fixed status. Perhaps those who oppose it do not know what the Flag meant.
They seek to make it mean something other than what those who invented it intended it to mean. We have seen the 're-meaning' of symbols before. Beautiful memorials to war dead and even popular American Presidents have been also "re-meaned" to represent oppression and racism.
Today in Los Angeles, an 'art' exhibition is underway entitled "This is Not America's Flag" at the Broad Museum. It is inspired by the 1987 pop art neon exhibit in New York's Time Square. Demonizing the American flag in 1987 may have been scandalous, but today demonizing the Stars and Stripes has become fashionable.
This technique isn't new. In recent history other American flags have been demonized as 'racist'. "Don't Tread on Me" was re-meaned. And Gov. Ron DeSantis' adoption of the iconic Texas "Come and Take it" flag also was branded the ultimate insult. This isn't so new, this is the path that another iconic American Flag took. A 'pop artist' used a noose and a gallows to display the 'proper way to hang a Confederate flag' in a museum in 2004. Where is that flag today?
"Give the dog a bad name, then kill the dog"
Guardians continue to caution that our core American identity is in jeopardy. Will we be become another Cuba or Venezuela? Our guest at last Monday evening's event, Mr. Verdad, discussed this de-identification technique as a key tactic in the communist revolutionary play book use in Venezuela..
Will the blood of the Patriots and those that fought the real Nazis be in vain? Or will we resist the demands to fault America for all that is wrong in the world and instead honor and respect our unique and important heritage?
Time will tell but today, one thing you can do, is fly your flag. Happy Flag Day, America!
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