I used to own a house that had a flag pole, and we usually had the US flag raised. When sunset arrived, we merely lowered the flag. It took about two minutes, and that included folding the flag. It takes longer to brush and floss. I loved raising the flag in the morning. I’m not sure what’s so onerous about lowering it, but it’s not against the law to leave it raised.
It is and always has been ok.
Define: “okay”. There are established customs that have been codified in the USA since at least 1949. And even then, these traditions had been informally practiced for at least decades earlier. Sure, people are free to do what they want. In that sense, it is okay. But that’s like going to a formal dinner party in shorts and drinking your soup straight from the bowl. It’s okay in the sense that it is legal. But in the sense that it goes against established customs and will likely be offensive to people who care about such formalities, it is not okay.
Or, they will just take down the flag pole.
No healthy person is going to be offended by an unlit flag on someone else’s private property.
A bunch of us scouts built a raft and spent nine days floating down the Mississippi. We flew The Ensign of the Sovereign Kingdom of Peco-Pie. I’d start a fun project where all the neighbors (and their kids of course) get to doodle flag ideas. Then a seamstress (neighbor or any tailor) can stitch it up using ripstop nylon.
That was my job at a summer camp. It was a nice ritual to start the day: coffee, newspaper and flag.
Good point.
If you want to be proper about it, the best option is to raise and lower it at dawn and dusk.
If you don’t want to be proper about it, then ignore the Flag Code and do whatever you feel like.
I’m done. This is pointless. Maybe offended is not the right word or maybe you just want to be argumentative. The fact is, when it comes to flying a US flag, it is more respectful to either take it down at night or to illuminate it rather than fly it in the dark.
If you don’t care whatsoever about customs, courtesy, manners, or other arbitrary social constructs, then of course everything is okay. You can’t have a meaningful discussion about what is and is not okay if you don’t agree on the standard by which to judge the act.
This is like trying to argue about English writing without specifying a style guide.
Is it okay to use profanity around children? Is it okay to not say please and thank you? Is it okay to not send a thank you card or message after receiving a gift? Is it okay to chew loudly and slurp at the table? Are people offended by such things unhealthy? Or maybe do they just have different values than you?
According to US Flag Code and the decades of traditions and customes upon which those rules are based, it is not okay to fly a flag at night unless it is illuminated.
According to the code of “Whatever! I do what I want! It’s my property and it’s not hurting you”, then it is okay.
FTR, I don’t personally care what the OP or anyone else does with their flag poles. But, if a friend wanted to do it and they asked if it was “okay”, I would say, “No.” And explain why. What they do with that information and whether or not they decide to fly it in the dark anyway wouldn’t bother me. I don’t care what they choose to do with their flag.
I also dont care if you refuse to groom prior to a job interview. But if you asked if it was okay, I wouldn’t say, “Yea, sure. Who cares.”
When my parents had a house with a flagpole, they only put up a flag twice a year – 14 June and 4 July – and took it down at dusk.
Your example in your prior post was about manners while attending someone else’s dinner party. Which is a far cry from what they do at home. If someone gets offended by how other people do dinner at their own house, how they chew on their front porch, what they wear while mowing the lawn, the words they use at home, the style guide they adhere to at a publication you don’t edit for . . . that’s not healthy. Nor is getting worked up about someone else’s flag at someone else’s house. Light, dark, on fire, whatever. It’s just a flag. Nobody is harmed. Nobody is disrespected.
Especially not the U.S. of A. Our republic has weathered a lot more than a flag displayed “incorrectly”. Which, by the way, happens with at least a quarter of all the flags people fly on the Fourth of July. I’m chuckling at the vision of a Bear of a guy knocking on the door of some old widow of a veteran, “Hey, open up! I gotta teach you how to hang your flag correctly!” Or lecturing biker gangs on why they can’t wear flag t-shirts or bandanas. I look at those people as respecting the flag and our country, as I would if someone was flying a flag day and night without taking it down at dusk.
Now that I think about it rationally, what a stupid rule. Should people have to take their Stars of David or Masonic symbols in at night? Should churches take their crosses down at dusk and put them up at dawn?
He mentioned it but didn’t go any further.
I’ll look into the darkness-triggered LED lamp idea, including how the hell to get it all the way up that pole without killing myself. My experience with dawn-to-dusk bulbs has been mixed so far.
Luckily you’ll only need bulbs that work from dusk to dawn.
BORING? It has 13 stripes and 50 stars. What more do you want?
I agree with TRC4914: good for you to want to fly the flag. But don’t make it a chore. I have two neighbors who fly the flag 24/7 without illumination. If I had a pole I’d do the same without hesitation. I would periodically replace the flag when it became wind tattered or impossible to adequately clean.
P.S. I like your ide of flying the State flag.
If you’re going to fly a flag, do it right. Reveille in the morning, Retreat in the evening. Teach your son to be a bugler, and make a show of it twice a day. Send your wife out into the street to demand cars stop and show respect. Leave it up all night? Pshaw! That’s the lazy, unpatriotic way.
I’m now considering a nighttime display involving a strobe light and an amplified loop of Sousa marches (especially the Washington Post March).
Should be an effective way of getting to know more of the neighbors.