The Flag Is Not Red or Blue

The Resilient Philosopher Books

What Fifty Stars Still Mean

I recently asked a simple question under a political image: Why is our flag shredded while the flag presented as our adversary remains intact? I was not trying to begin another red-versus-blue argument. What caught my attention was the American flag itself and what happens when a national symbol becomes a partisan one.

The American flag does not belong to Republicans or Democrats. It does not belong to a president, an administration, or an ideology. It belongs to the United States of America. More importantly, it is not an empty symbol that we can redefine every election cycle. Its stars, stripes, colors, and history already carry meaning.

The Flag Already Has Meaning

There are fifty stars because there are fifty states, and the thirteen stripes represent the original thirteen colonies. USA.gov identifies the traditional meanings of the colors as red for valor and bravery, white for purity and innocence, and blue for vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The current fifty-star design dates to 1960, following Hawaii’s admission as the fiftieth state.

None of those meanings says Republican or Democrat. A state does not lose its star because its citizens vote differently from me, and the flag does not change when an electoral map changes. Fifty stars remain fifty states under one national banner. When we reduce red and blue to political ownership, we make the flag smaller than what it represents.

The Banner Was Still There

The history behind The Star-Spangled Banner makes that distinction even more important to me. Mary Pickersgill made the large fifteen-star, fifteen-stripe flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. On September 14, 1814, American soldiers raised it after the British bombardment of the fort, and Francis Scott Key saw the flag still flying. The power of that moment was continuity: the fort had endured and remained in American hands.

A national symbol accumulates memory. People serve beneath it, families receive it in honor of the dead, citizens salute it, protest beneath it, criticize government beneath it, and still recognize it as the flag of the same country. Federal law also requires enlisted service members to swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, not a political party. That distinction matters because the country being defended contains Americans who will never vote alike.

A Flag Bigger Than a Party

Americans can disagree profoundly about government while remaining Americans. There is a difference between saying, “I believe my political position is better for America,” and behaving as though “my political position is America.” The first belongs to political disagreement. The second begins deciding who counts as a legitimate member of the nation.

This connects directly with The Silence of a Free Mind. I argue there that loving a country does not require surrendering the conscience needed to examine it. A national flag has to remain large enough to represent people who disagree about what the nation should become.

That is why the shredded flag in that political image bothered me. I was not thinking about which political party should win the argument. I was thinking about what happens when the flag that represents all of us becomes the property of one side. A partisan banner represents a faction. The American flag has a harder responsibility: it has to represent a country full of people who disagree with one another and still belong to the same nation.

Fifty stars. One nation. Not fifty Republican states or fifty Democratic states. The United States of America.

Orlando J. Alvarez
Vision LEON LLC
The Resilient Philosopher

Continue the Journey

This reflection continues a central argument from The Silence of a Free Mind: conscience should remain free even when politics, institutions, and identity pressure us to surrender it. Read The Silence of a Free Mind on Amazon, or explore my published books at Vision LEON.

Sources: USA.gov, The American Flag and Other National Symbols; Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Star-Spangled Banner; 10 U.S.C. § 502. As an Amazon Associate, Vision LEON LLC may earn from qualifying purchases made through eligible Amazon links.