Reclaiming the flag on No Kings Day
To the Editor:
June 14 isn't just another date — it's the day we take back what's ours.
You know what's remarkable? They want you to think the American flag belongs to them now. That somehow the stars and stripes became the exclusive property of MAGA rallies and Trump merchandise tables. When did we let that happen?
The flag was never theirs to begin with.
Our flag stands for the radical idea that no person — not a king, not a strongman, not a self-proclaimed savior — stands above the law. It represents power belonging to the people, not to whoever shouts loudest, tweets craziest or pays the most money. Every stripe represents the audacious belief that ordinary Americans can govern themselves without bowing to anyone.
But look around. What do you see? A movement that worships personality and wealth over principle. A party that abandons its values the moment their leader demands it. People are claiming to love America while dismantling every institution that makes America work.
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This isn't conservatism — it's authoritarianism wrapped in patriotic theater.
On June 14 — Flag Day — Americans are gathering for “No Kings Day.” Not because we hate America, but because we love it too much to watch it slip away. We're carrying flags not as weapons of division, but as symbols of our shared inheritance.
They've spent years telling us that questioning power makes you unpatriotic. That demanding accountability makes you un-American. accThat expecting leaders to follow the same laws as everyone else makes you the problem.
That's exactly backwards, and they know it.
The founders didn’t risk everything so Americans would kiss the ring of a would-be king. They created a system specifically designed to prevent what we’re watching: power concentrated in someone who believes he's above the law.
Every American carrying a flag on June 14 makes a simple statement: this country belongs to all of us. Not to any party, not to any leader and certainly not to anyone who thinks rules don’t apply to them.
The establishment wants you to stay home. They want you to think patriotism means blind loyalty to whomever’s in charge.
Don’t buy it.
Real patriotism means holding your country to its highest ideals. Real patriotism means defending democracy when it's inconvenient for those in power. We're not taking back the flag — we're reminding everyone it was always ours.
June 14. Be there. Bring your flag. Show them what American patriotism actually looks like.
This isn't about left versus right. It’s about democracy versus authoritarianism. Citizens versus subjects. Whether America remains America, or becomes something our founders would have fought a revolution to overthrow. Kingdoms have subjects. Republics have citizens.
Which one are you?
Walter Cook
Franklin
