Fly the Flag!

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. I love this time of year. The picnics, family activities, reunions, fireworks, parades, etc. I consider myself to be rather patriotic. I mean this in the most inclusive sense. Even though I have disagreements with the way things are going in our government, I believe that ours is the best system. I believe in America. Now, there are those who may think that you can't be patriotic AND criticize the government, but they are not true believers in the First Amendment and our wonderful freedom of expression. (See the Quote of the Week.) One of those freedoms of expression is to fly the flag. I have a modest collection of American flags. On holidays I fly 5 of them at a time from the overhang of my garage. In order, they are: The Bennington Flag (has the "76") , The Betsy Ross Flag (stars in a circle), The Star Spangled Banner (15 stars), a 48-star flag and a 50-star flag. I encourage everyone to fly a flag on July 4th. Flags are inexpensive and easy to put up. I have a 5' x 8' flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol on my birthday in the year 2000. It comes with with a certificate and is a nice keepsake. You can make arrangements online with your congressman to have this done for you and the cost is very reasonable. Happy Birthday America!