I have never considered the flag as something holy

[MineralMan]

22. It's not only associated with right-wingers, though.

Many others also hold the flag in high regard. I do. My flag is out for all national holidays. It's the only one on my block. My block holds lots of right-wingers, but my flag is the only one flying on July 4 and Veterans Day and all the other holidays.

I was brought up to respect the flag as a symbol of our country. The country, as defined in the Constitution. Not how the country behaves from time to time, but the principles on which it was founded. So, I fly the flag. I stand when it passes, and I salute it, the same as I did during my enlistment in the USAF.

I'm not a right-winger. I'm an American. I still hope for the nation to live up to the standards established for it. I still work toward that goal. I will continue to do that until I die. The flag symbolizes not the nation from year to year. It symbolizes what the nation should be and what it was founded to be.

You can hold it in disregard if you wish. You can burn it if you wish. Both are part of the freedoms the nation was built on. I will not do that, though. I will hold it high, fly it when appropriate, and stand and salute it. It represents some very high ideals...ideals we have not met yet.

That's my opinion of the flag. Yours might differ. That's also part of the freedoms we all have. I will not give up my love for this country and my dreams for what it can and should be. You can do as you please.