A lot of assumptions about the political leanings of Americans who fly the flag at their homes are wrong.
Way back when the country was divided over the Vietnam War, Erma Bombeck had a column about a woman who displayed the flag. Pro-war types thought she was with them, antiwar sorts figured she was a gung-ho militarist. It was neither. She displayed the flag out of simple patriotic custom.
We inherited a large flagpole near the front entrance when we moved to our Kentucky home. For awhile we flew both an American flag and a 20th Maine regimental flag from the Civil War. Never got any comments on either. Both flags eventually disintegrated in the wind and weather and haven’t been replaced (it’s a pain to raise and lower flags every day in accordance with custom and to preserve them).
Also in the past, we’ve displayed red-white-and blue bunting around July 4th.
We’re about as far from MAGA as you can get.
*I’ve always like the don’t-tread-on-me flag, but it’s been co-opted by far right/sov cit dingbats, and besides, Mrs. J. hates snakes.
agreed. This claim gets thrown aroud a lot here, but is simply not true. Probably about 1/3 of the houses in my neighborhood fly the US flag on any given day. I can’t claim to know everyone that does so, but of the ones that I am friendly with, none appear to be MAGA. Many veterans still fly the flag every day.
In Argentina it just isn’t done, by anybody, I think I’ve seen one flag mast in a private residence in my whole life.
With that small a sample size flying the flag in your yard does not reach a level where it could have any significance.
On the other hand, and specially in the World Cup, having the flag hanging from a window or other place in your house is not seen as particularly right-wing, often the opposite.
Fortunately the left here has mostly avoided, so far, conceding the symbolism of the flag to the right as it seems to have happened in Europe and to a extent in the U.S.
Probably because the left argues that we are (economically) a colony of the U.S. (formerly of the U.K.) and fights against that, while the right is usually accommodating to U.S. demands.
MAGAts have gotten more surreptitious with their flags. Lately I’ve seen them using the 13-star Betsy Ross edition, ostensibly because the USA started wandering from the founders’ vision, becoming impure the moment the ink was dry on the constitution. THEY know it’s a dog whistle, they know EVERYONE ELSE knows it’s a dog whistle. But it’s all they can do because they are not exactly an “ideas” bunch, and everyone else likes it when idiots self-identify.
We fly an unaltered American Flag, alongside a stripey equality flag. I don’t give a lot of damns about some nebulous social equality, but I like flying the RW&B because nutters think I’m one of them and it makes their brains melt when they find out I’m not. During the anti-ICE protests last spring, some of them would go total meathead when they saw the RW&B flying proudly next to a protester who just wanted the restoration of constitutional normality.
I don’t see many flagpoles in Toronto, Canada. The only times when I see an explosion of flags are during international sports competitions like the World Cup or the Olympics; people like to fly little flags clipped into their car windows.
I live in the land of US flags along with at least one other, often the Gadsden. Other times, they are odd flags that I assume are some sort of Christian Nationalist flag. MAGAville.
I have about 50 different flags from various national, state, county, and city governments. No American flag, though. Flying that would be boring. I like flags like Maryland (my home state), or Phoenix, AZ. I really like the oddball ones like Nepal or The Conch Republic. I even have certain English county flags, like the west riding of Yorkshire. Every Saturday is flag changing day.
In the UK, flying the union flag or (in England) the flag of St George is fast becoming a sign that you’re a far right “patriot”.
Agree, but with the caveat that flags come out for major international competitions (World Cup soccer and Olympics) - but usually disappear afterwards. There’s a limit to how performatively patriotic most of us like to be (showing off can be a bit infra dig)
I took a trip to Ireland a few years ago, including a few days in Northern Ireland, where I saw several homes with the union flag in the yard. I assume flying a union flag in Northern Ireland has certain additional political symbolism.
I see Argentina flags frequently in the US. Are immigrants more likely to be patriotic to Argentina? Or is it just them adopting the US’s flag culture?
Who gets to decide what “far right” is, though? This has largely turned into an “Anything I Don’t Like” badge, which dilutes any heft that it might have had.
It was during the Stalin era that anything to the right of Stalinism was “fascist”, by definition. “Not the kind of people you want next door” of course, is a matter of opinion. Indigenous people are not necessarily cads and scoundrels, and newcomers are not all sweetness and light.
You mean illegal aliens? I dunno, it didn’t used to be a “far right” position. Not even a little bit, Americans are not divided on this issue, even today. Overwhelmingly, illegal migration has been a huge issue for 50 years. I think it has been branded “far right”, which isn’t quite the same thing. The political class in either of the two main parties has been completely unresponsive to this issue.
California here, specifically Central Valley. Lots of MAGAts around us, and we assume most who fly the American flag are MAGA. There’s one chucklehead not too far from us with an ultra-MAGA banner on his fence, alongside both American and Mexican flags.
We display a pride flag. During Trump1, we displayed an American flag upside-down for nearly his entire term.
Yep, and those are generally flag-wavers. In the UK, the red cross of St George is almost always associated with right-wingers, or football fans; the Union Flag not so much.
The neighbors behind me (who just moved away) flew an American flag every day. I was very friendly with them but we never discussed politics. I did know that they were conservative Christians but I have no idea what they thought of Trump.
Down the street a few houses there is a married couple who are both men. I barely know them at all but I assume they are Liberal because they are gay and this is a very liberal town.
The day after Biden won the election, the house behind me temporarily took down their flag and the couple down the road put one up. It was brand new. You could still see the fold marks.
