Stand and salute

Do we as citizens understand what our flag and anthem represent? Lincoln distinguished our nation from all other nations in that this nation draws its powers from the people not from the government (“that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”)

Every individual in this nation has an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These rights cannot be extinguished or forfeited as declared in the preamble to our Declaration of Independence. We salute the flag because it flies for those rights, not because people have fought and died under it, though their sacrifice established its authenticity, but because the flag is the symbol of our pre-eminence as a citizen.

Liberty comes with a price requiring each of us to stand up and declare our freedom. Our national anthem is our reminder of the price we must and have paid, so we stand. The flag is our banner of hope for liberty and justice for all (“And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave/O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”).

Please stand and salute!

John R. Nilson

Spokane