The American Flag is Not a Republican Symbol

JK grew up in the midwest in a religious, conservative family. He works in finance in Manhattan, travels internationally for work, and is outspoken about his fiscal and social beliefs. He lives in a monied area in nearby Connecticut and is highly social; on more than one occasion he’s been the first neighbor people meet when they first move to the area. He is a reliable, influential, and trusted friend.

We had the pleasure of joining JK at a (socially distant) BBQ and he told us about another new couple in town. He invited them over and they walked down his meandering driveway and were suddenly struck by the large American Flag hanging across the front of his garden shed. They whispered, “We thought you were a Democrat.”

JK is a Democrat. He’s an ardent, parade-going, equal-opportunity-crusading, socially-liberal, fiscally-savvy man. And he has a massive American flag greeting the liberal guests who felt instantly threatened by the emblem of our country.

A few weeks prior we were driving through Virginia somewhere in the region of Christiansburg and Lynchburg. A dinner detour brought us through a quaint, bucolic town with a brick-faced main-street replete with an old-time movie theater and even a soda-shop, easily lost in time like a Twilight Zone episode. This was in March, and as we lazily meandered I was struck by…