This Fourth of July, many Americans are showing their patriotic spirit by flying the Stars and Stripes, and they’re being asked to keep flag etiquette in mind. Mark Sutton, with the American Legion Department of Michigan, tells us the American flag should be respected because it represents freedom, democracy, and the values of a nation that many have fought to defend.
“There’s not a lot of people who are leaving this country – most everybody’s coming here, and one of the reasons is the freedoms that we have here. And those freedoms have stemmed over 200 years, and it’s about the flag that we raise and lower every day. To some people, it’s a piece of cloth; to others, it’s their whole life.”
According to the United States Flag Code, the American flag should always be raised the highest in a series of flag poles, and never be displayed if tattered. It should never touch the ground and always be carried “aloft and free.”
