Flag Day

Washington, DC., 14 June 2025 ——

June 14th is Flag Day… the day our nation commemorates the adoption of the American flag in 1777. Although it is not a national holiday, most Americans commemorate it by displaying their flags. However, this year is a bit special as the US Army celebrates its 250th anniversary (1775) on Flag Day. The US Army is older than both the country and the flag. June 14th is also the president’s birthday, and he wanted a parade for his birthday, so he hijacked the Army’s 250th anniversary celebration – to the tune of $45 million. Couldn’t we have just gotten him a pony?

The fact is, military officials had been planning the Army’s 250th anniversary for several years. The plan was to position displays along the National Mall, between the monuments, and to have service members on the mall to greet visitors. There was no plan for a parade, nor moving heavy tanks, planes, and other military equipment to the city, and certainly not a $45 million parade. But this is not the first time Trump has tried to force a military parade through the streets of Washington, DC, similar to the ones in North Korea and Russia. He tried this during his first term in 2017, but his cabinet then consisted of Generals Mattis, Milley, and Votel, and they discouraged the spectacle, and he didn’t get his parade.

With cuts to international aid, the money spent on the parade could have been used to pick up the tab for peanut paste to be sent to starving children in Africa, Gaza, and many other countries. The cost of peanut paste treatment to save a starving child is about $42 per child for a six-week treatment. How many starving children could we save for $45 million? Or perhaps the money spent on Trump’s parade could have been used to continue Medicaid benefits and insurance to 16 million Americans, as well as many veterans, who are about to be kicked off the much-needed health benefits, if the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is passed. Add to the cost of the parade the $134 million spent on Trump’s deployment of US Marines to Los Angeles… a total of nearly $200 million in taxpayer dollars. Which seems a bit ridiculous since all those cuts Musk and DOGE made were to save government spending.

Our country is dealing with a lot right now. Tariffs, the cost of everything – most importantly groceries, ICE invasions, the breakup of Trump and Musk’s bromance, and the terrorization of immigrants, are just a few of the many issues within our country’s borders. As peaceful protests continue throughout the US, in objection to our government’s actions, our government in turn has chosen to throw constitutional norms out the window to suspend due process, disappear immigrants (and some US citizens) to El Savador, Libya, and Sudan, and to use our own military to police its citizens. Right this minute, there are US Marines in Los Angeles arresting US citizens on US soil… an act that is explicitly prohibited.

We need solid leadership that cares about people… all people. Leaders who want to work for peace and what is right and just … and not self-serving officials who make decisions on what is best for them, and a handful of others. America is exceptional. But if our country loses the one thing that makes us different and exceptional from the rest… we may never get that back. If our exceptionalism is fractured to the point that we forget how great we truly were before MAGA… we may never find our way back.

This division is not good for our country. It’s not who we are. And I know that in the last few years, that phrase has been said many, many times. But it’s true. If America were an uncaring, hateful country with no values, people from other countries would not be risking their lives and their families’ lives to come here. They would not want to risk it all to leave one hell for another… just to be terrorized. They can get that from where they came.

No… they want the “American dream”… just like the rest of us. And they are willing to work very hard for it. The fact is, the people in our country who are the most discounted are among the many who wave our flag the highest. They are proud to be in America, and they, too, want to see America’s greatness. Let’s be that country… again. What is happening right now… the actions by a few (in comparison to our population), the cruelty shown to the vulnerable, those are not the actions of people aspiring to greatness. We can do better. We should do better… on this Flag Day, and all the days after.

Photo Credit: New York Stock Exchange US Flag by Grant Wickes. Licensed under CC BY 2.0