A Simple Act of American Dignity

Photo by Jacob Morrison on Unsplash

I have an appeal to my American readership. I want you to do something today. I want you to venture out into the world, on foot preferably, and find the first raised American flag you can find. And I want you to look at it. If you want you can hold your hand over your heart. If you are service member or veteran, you can salute. But be conspicuous about it. It's okay if people see you doing it. In fact, it's important.

This isn't just ritual. It's reclamation.

Symbols matter. They're the visible signposts of our shared commitment. When we surrender them to those who would twist their meaning, we surrender something precious—the common language of citizenship, the embodied expression of our constitutional inheritance.

The American flag isn't the property of any party, ideology, or faction. It belongs to all of us—to everyone who believes in the project of democracy, however imperfect its execution. To everyone who stands against autocracy. To everyone who believes that power must be constrained by law.

When you look at those stars and stripes today, remember what they represent—not a mythology of perfection, not an erasure of our failings, but an aspiration toward something noble: a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Two plus two equals four. There are twenty-four hours in a day. And the American experiment, for all its contradictions, remains worth fighting for.

The center must be held—not because it is easy, but because it is ours to hold.