The American Flag – Hijacked by Conservatives?

Don’t get me wrong, there is no other country to which I would want to be a citizen. If I were to move to another country, I could not imagine giving up my United States citizenship. It would be an impossibility for me. Having said this it feels to me that this country currently has so many problems that are not being addressed it saddens me. Our general attitude of exceptionalism is one of them. It can be debated if our country was ever exceptional, but I certainly do not feel like it is at this time. Unless, of course, you consider hogging most of the world’s resources and bullying countries around the globe with our military as being exceptional. Another significant problem seems to be that as a nation we are becoming more and more splintered along economic, religious and political lines.¹

I live in the Second Congressional District of Missouri. I mention this because this district is ultra conservative. They have elected a couple of the lamest politicians to ever walk the face of the earth let alone take the oath of office. Specifically that would be the incumbent, Ann “there is no climate change problem” Wagoner and Todd “legitimate rape” Adkins.

I bring up  the conservatism of this district as the flying of the American flag at residences seems to be more common than in other areas. This is purely anecdotal from my personal observations. It has always seemed to me the flying of our flag was more common than usual in the South, another very conservative area.  However, I did find this Pew Research article on flag flying² which contradicted that somewhat. Their poll found that older, white Republicans in the Northeast or Midwest were the most likely to fly the flag. That is a pretty accurate description of the area I live in. Exclude the geographic location from the Pew poll and add in Christian and that sounds like the Republican base. In the land of the free and the brave, its citizens have a dismal voting record. Roughly a third of the population votes regularly³. Again those most likely to vote seem to match the Republican base.

The question then becomes what are these folks trying to express by displaying the American flag? Patriotism? Ultra patriotism? Something else or something in addition? Both of our major political parties use the American flag for symbolic purposes. It is de riguer for a politician to be photographed in front of one or multiple American flags. Heaven help the politician who does not wear an American flag lapel pin. Having said that, it seems that the conservatives have hijacked the flag as a symbol. Again, just an impression, but conservatives seem to use the flag more frequently and dramatically than do either moderates or progressives. Perhaps the reason lies in the following study I found on the Freaknomics website: The Mere Sight of an American Flag Can Shift Voters Republican.

Even a cursory web search will result in an avalanche of articles of folks outraged for one reason or another because they could not display the American flag. These articles typically have a very conservative, almost reactionary, flavor to them.

My personal opinion is that these people are not expressing their patriotism as much as they are expressing their political leanings. Extreme patriotism seems to be part of the conservative mantra. In a world where the pressing problems are generally global, pushing nationalism too far hurts all of us. It also strikes me as inappropriate to use a symbol that should be drawing us together as a tool to split us apart by using it as political demagoguery. Yes, I know that the two preceding statements are somewhat contradictory.

The preceding train of thought was started this morning as I drove my wife to the doctor.   I know it is a little after the Fourth, but there seemed to be a larger number than usual of residence’s with American flags “a-fluttering”. Perhaps it was the result of all the brouhaha over the Confederate flag. Maybe on this rainy morning they stood out more than normal.   Just as a point of conversation and agitation I asked my wife how she would feel if I started flying the UN flag from the front porch. Her immediate question was, “Why?” My prompt response was, “To perturb our conservative neighbors.” So I decided to explore the topic.

Full disclosure does not really apply to my silly, little blog, but in that spirit I will admit to usually displaying a small American flag or two in our garden in the front of the house. Perhaps it is the residual military brat in me. Perhaps it is to honor relatives that died in WWII or were POWs then. Perhaps I think they look nice next to the hasta plants.

Footnotes and further references:

1. Polarization Is Dividing American Society, Not Just Politics
2. Who Flies the Flag? Not Always Who You Might Think
3. Who Votes, Who Doesn’t, and Why

Who Says Conservatives Are More Patriotic?

A Deep Dive Into Party Affiliation

Republican Base Heavily White, Conservative, Religious

Flags, Deflection, Guns, Rationalization

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