I wrote about the flag today:
Per the code, “the flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.” It states that “no disrespect should be shown to the flag,” and when it is taken down, it should be placed into “waiting hands and arms.”
Some of the code is honored in the breach — it urges against using the flag on clothing or in advertisements — but it captures America’s passion for its flag. At times of crisis, the phrase “rallying around the flag” isn’t just a figure of speech. In one survey after the September 11 attacks, 80 percent of Americans reported that they were displaying it.
This is why the NFL kneelers are cutting against the American cultural grain, besides picking the wrong target on the merits. The American flag isn’t a Confederate monument — indeed the opposite. Our military fights under it. The flag drapes the caskets of the fallen and is folded in a solemn ceremony at military funerals, with practically every movement fraught with religious and patriotic meaning. It is not to be trifled with — unless you intend to insult the country for which it stands.