Flag Day, 2022

Today, June 14th, is celebrated as Flag Day in the United States. It commemorates the day in 1777 on which the Second Continental Congress officially adopted an official United States flag, as distinct from that of Great Britain. The resolution passed by the Continental Congress described the flag as having "13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and specified that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The flag has changed many times since then*, having reached its present form in 1960 when a fiftieth star was added for the new state of Hawaii.

Flag Day was approved as a national observance (as opposed to a national holiday) by President Harry Truman in 1949, although both Presidents Wilson (in 1916) and Coolidge (in 1927) had issued proclamations for a "national flag day."

I have written twice on the subject of flags in this blog. 

The first was in 2015, when I offered my proposal for a redesign of the United States flag appropriate to the present day ...

And the second was in July of last year, when I lamented that The Grand Old Flag I had proudly served during my Air Force career had been replaced by The Grandiose Old Flag, used merely as a prop by those who understand nothing of its meaning and are ignorant and unpatriotic enough to fly it alongside the stars and bars of the old Confederacy. Many of you were as sickened as I was last January 6th to watch a howling mob of Der Furor's supporters actually beat police officers with the American flag that we once celebrated as a symbol of unity and pride. And who can forget the disgusting image of Der Furor ostentatiously hugging an American flag and mouthing the empty words "I love you" ... before he went on to betray his oath and his country by attempting illegally to remain in power in defiance of the Constitution and the will of the American people?

As I wrote last year, 

"I fly the Grand Old Flag ... not the grandiose old flag. I believe in the America honored by Senator Carl Schurz in 1871, when he said in a speech to the Senate, 'My country, right or wrong ... if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.'"

On this Flag Day, and next month on Independence Day, fly the Grand Old Flag ... not the grandiose old flag. Don't pretend that your love of the country is reflected by the size and number of flags you fly from your giant pickup truck or wave without understanding what they represent.

I'd like to think we're better than that ... but on this Flag Day, I'm no longer so sure.

Have a good day. Be a proud American, and an honorable one. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Twenty-seven, according to the Library of Congress article linked above.