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Reclaiming the Flag: A Democratic Call to Patriotism as a symbol of defiance [1]

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Date: 2025-05-10

For too long, we Democrats have stood by as the Republican Party draped itself in the Stars and Stripes, wielding the American flag as a weapon to question our loyalty, our values, and our love for this country. They branded themselves as the sole arbiters of patriotism, painting us as weak, un-American, or worse. We knew it was a lie—a hollow performance rooted in division, not unity. But we let it slide, and that was our mistake. No more. The flag belongs to all of us, and it’s time we take it back.

Those of you old enough to do it, cast your mind back to September 11, 2001. The towers fell, the Pentagon burned, and a field in Pennsylvania became hallowed ground. In the days that followed, something remarkable happened—something the history books don’t emphasize enough. America didn’t just mourn; it roared with defiance. From every corner of this nation, the American flag rose. It flew from car antennas, hung from fire escapes, adorned private homes, and waved proudly on city streets. It was on T-shirts, bumper stickers, and lapel pins. That flag wasn’t red or blue—it was red, white, and blue, a symbol of a grieving but unbowed nation.

Everyone alive that day felt it: the raw, unifying power of that symbol. It wasn’t about politics; it was about shared loss, shared resolve, and a shared dream of what America could be. For a fleeting moment, we were one.

Then came the Iraq War, and with it, the GOP’s betrayal of that unity. The flag, once a beacon of collective strength, was weaponized. It became a prop for warmongering, a badge of arrogance, a litmus test for loyalty. Support the war, or you’re not a patriot. Question the administration, and you’re spitting on the troops. The Republicans wrapped their agenda in stars and stripes, daring anyone to challenge their monopoly on “American values.” And we, Democrats, let them. We ceded the flag, focusing instead on policy debates and moral high grounds, while they turned our symbol into a cudgel.

For years, they’ve flown it over their rallies, their wars, their tax cuts for the rich, their assaults on civil liberties—all while accusing us of hating the very country we’ve fought to improve. They made patriotism a zero-sum game, and we were too slow to call their bluff.

But now, something extraordinary has happened. The Republican Party, in its fervor for a single man, has traded the American flag for a new one: a blue banner emblazoned with “Trump.” They’ve replaced the symbol of nearly 250 years years of struggle, sacrifice, and aspiration with the name of a convicted felon. They’ve chosen a cult of personality over the principles of a nation. And in doing so, they’ve given us an opening—a chance to reclaim what was always ours.

Let them keep their blue Trump flags. Let them wave them at their rallies with their silly red hats, plaster them on their trucks, and fly them in their yards. That’s not our flag. Our flag is the one that flew over Valley Forge, that was raised on Iwo Jima, that draped the coffins of those who died for freedom. Our flag is the one that stood defiant after 9/11, not as a symbol of who we are today, but of who we strive to be.

Democrats, it’s time to fly the Stars and Stripes again—not with arrogance, but with purpose. Fly it as a middle finger to an administration that thrives on division, lies, and the erosion of the very liberties we hold dear. Fly it as a hat tip to the generations who laid down their lives so we could protest, vote, and speak freely today. Fly it for the millions who’ve marched, bled, and died to protect this nation from the kind of tyranny we now face at home.

This isn’t about nostalgia or blind allegiance. It’s about defiance. It’s about reminding ourselves and the world that America was founded on rebellion against autocrats, on the radical idea that power belongs to the people. We’ve gone to war in distant lands to fight the very authoritarianism that now rears its head here. We’ve lost sons and daughters to defend the right to dissent, to demand better, to strive for a more perfect union. That’s what the flag stands for—not perfection, but the relentless pursuit of it.

So, go to your closets, your attics, your garages. Dust off that flag you haven’t flown since 9/11. Hang it from your porch, stick it on your car, wear it on your chest. Fly it at your rallies, your marches, your town halls. Fly it when you vote. Fly it when you speak out against injustice. Fly it not because America is flawless, but because it’s worth fighting for.

Let the GOP have their Trump flags. We’ll take back the red, white, and blue. We’ll fly it as a symbol of resistance, of resilience, of a patriotism that doesn’t divide but unites. We’ll fly it for the America we believe in—an America that belongs to all of us, not just the loudest or the most hateful. And when we do, we’ll show the world that the soul of this nation isn’t found in one man or one party. It’s found in us, in our defiance, in our hope, and in the flag we raise together. If we can do that, we will get through this, and we will live up to the fourth verse of our national anthem…

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