I believe that they are legal mandates, in that they are written into the law, but the law includes no penalty for violating them. Which is a hair split dancing on a pin head, I know.
And if the neighbour is displaying his flag intentionally in that manner, than my guess is that enforcement of the flag code would not withstand First Amendment challenge. You can’t legislate “respect” for anything, particularly a political symbol.
Since it’s been there so long, per the OP, I assume it’s laziness/inertia and not any particular political statement by his neighbor.
Same here - my dad used to tell me all the flags were flying for me 
VCNJ~
Well, flag waving in a literal sense – usually they’re only waved at parades and things. But the flag is displayed all over the place. I would guess that in any randomly chosen residential subdivision, it would be unusual for the flag not to be displayed in at least one window, on at least one pole attached to a house, and on several cars (accompanied by patriotic or belligerent slogans of various kinds). There might even be at least one house with a free-standing flag pole.
You could collude as Earth is colonized by alien overlords. That should take care of those pesky US flags for good!
A restaurant here had allowed the US flag displayed over their front door to get snagged in their gutters. It was stained, wet, and generally disgusting. I called once and told the receptionist who told me she’d tell a manager. Nothing happened. Two days later I called, asked for the manager, told him about the flag, and was told that he’d take care of it. Nothing happened.
Two days later I called a nearby American Legion outpost. The man who answered the phone said he’d take a new flag to the restaurant that day. He must have done so, since the snagged flag disappeared and the new one was hung in a better place where it wouldn’t tangle in the gutters.
Perhaps your American Legion or VFW would do something similar for your neighbor?
I just got a call from my wife. The neighbor in question sent over a lasagna for us to eat (we have a newborn, and dinners are somewhat hectic). Would it have been passe of me to hand them the flag while taking the lasagna?
I don’t think so, especially if it was passed in a spirit of gratitude and friendship. Perhaps you could even employ a little white lie and say you just happened to have this extra flag lying around and you noticed his old one is getting kind of tattered…
Congratulations on the newborn.
Oh, by the way, you should probably offer to help him take the old one down and put the new one up. It’s possible he might not know exactly how to do it or might have some physical difficulty with it. You don’t have to mention that his old flag is an eyesore, just tell him how great you think a new one would look.
High five! Meet ya for birthday drinks!
It’s etiquette; not law. You can run it through your shredder if you want. No one can stop you.
While there may be a code, it is unenforceable by anyone because it is not a law. Because it is not a law, it is a matter of preference. The OP may like the respectful treatment of flags, but it is not his place to call anyone on it. *He realizes this * and is looking for a non-buttinski way of getting his neighbor to change out his flag. His neighbor is free to tell him to fuck off and there is nothing the OP can do about it.
(My mom’s death day, too. 
)
One more place to take your worn flags: your local Elks lodge.
Most lodges have a flag retirement ceremony at least once a year, followed by the dignified burning.
Go to www.elks.org and click Lodge Locator to find the one nearest you.
Well… I’m extremely, almost sloppily, patriotic and I’m also extremely easy-going and difficult to offend, but I would be very offended if a neighbor sicced the American Legion or the Boy Scouts on me. A business is different – presumably they want to keep from offending their client base, who may be put off by perceived disrespect to the flag.
Myself, I leave my front porch flag out all night, in all kinds of weather. So does my dad (who is also very patriotic). To me, this isn’t disrespectful – our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are out all night and in all sorts of weather and so can our flag be. Cops and firefighters and coal miners and nurses and garbage men, too, go out in the dark and in all kinds of weather. I’ve been out in the cold and rain a time or two myself. To me, the flag symbolizes us and it doesn’t need to be pampered and babied. When my flag starts to fray and tear, I dispose of it and buy a new one. I buy a new one about once a year. I have had people ask me about this, BTW – whether or not I bring my flag in at night, or if I have a fixed light on it. I just tell them what I said above – that the dark and rain can’t hurt my flag. Nobody’s ever argued with me about it – and, if anyone ever does, I’ll repeat that it’s my flag literally as well as symbolically and I can fly it how I choose. I hope a neighbor never sends a Boy Scout over to ‘correct’ my understanding of the flag code. As I said, I’m pretty hard to piss off, but that’d do it!
All that said, it sounds far more likely that the OP’s neighbor has just been lazy about replacing his flag, rather than making a symbolic statement by leaving it tatty. I think the best thing to do is to take him a new one – or just say, “Gee, your flag looks like it’s about ready to be replaced.” Probably the reply will be, “Yeah – I’ve been meaning to get on that.”
On the other hand, though, the reply might be, “I’m not replacing that flag until we end our occupation of Iraq.” And that’s a valid statement for him to make with his flag, if it is. At least IMO.
We leave ours out year round, too. We have a light shining above and to the left of it, but that is mainly to illuminate our driveway. It only kind of lights the flag.
Ours was extremely frayed and the stripes were almost completely bleached out before we replaced it. I’d say we replace it every five years or so.
Me being an Army brat, when we had a flagpole we observed military hours and rules for the flag, meaning it was brought in at night and disposed of properly when it became tattered.
However, I, being a civilian, know that’s not the way it’s dealt with in the Real World. Were I in the OP’s situation, I’d probably bring that up; not directly pertaining to his flag, but just talking about my childhood and how different it is outside of a military environment, and what is construed as respectful in the civilian world.
However, seeing as the OP probably doesn’t have that kind of background to rely on, I’d probably buy the neighbor a nice flag and maybe a little book on flag etiquette. Hell, if I could get the things cheap enough, I might do it for a few people so as not to single him out, and give them out on Flag Day as little kits.
On edit: to expand on my previous idea, how about getting a bunch of little flags and a bunch of little books (if you can afford that; little paperback ones or even nice printouts) on flag etiquette and hand them out to neighbors at flag day, just for shits and giggles. Maybe it’ll give your neighbor a hint.
~Tasha
I guess over here displaying a flag (and certainly displaying a St George’s) is synonymous with being a racist/xenophobe. Sadly, it’s down to us mainly losing a sense of British identity to display, but also an unfortunate proportion of people who do display the flag properly are, well, racists.
Dude, he gave you an opening! He brought over food!
When you return the container, include the flag as “something he might need.” and as thanks for HIS very kind gesture.
Now, go let the new Mom take a shower.