Thomas Sugrue’s fascinating points on Old Glory, the American flag:
In the United States the flag has the status of a religious icon, a totem. It cannot be carried horizontally or flat, but must always be ‘aloft and free’. There is a protocol for folding it, it can’t touch the ground, it can’t be burned except when it is worn out or irreparably damaged and then only as part of a special ritual. Military men and women salute it, civilians hold their right hands over their left breasts when singing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, and schoolchildren pledge allegiance to it. It is also a ubiquitous presence in the American landscape. The Red, White and Blue waves from people’s porches, flies over car dealerships and gas stations and adorns flower-pots; cars are festooned with it in the form of bumper stickers, window decals and antenna pennants. The flag decorates the altars of churches of every denomination except those of a few dissenting sects. And it has become a necessary accessory for political candidates. Early in his campaign, Barack Obama was criticised for his unpatriotic failure to display a flag lapel pin: as president-elect he now regularly wears one.
The status of the American flag is unique for a Western country because America isn’t just considered by Americans’ to be another country in the world, but to be the chosen nation, the only nation on earth where anything is possible and where dreams come true. Because the flag symbolized all of the promises of America, it is sacred because America religionizes anything that illustrates its history and its own holiness. The French don’t have the same adoration for their flag, which is usually used by extreme rights parties and organizations to express radical nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments. The French flag is used, therefore, solely during sporting and other national events such as Bastille Day. It is rare to see French houses with French flags and when they exist, the presence raises the immediate and explosive suspicion that its habitants are members of the extreme right. One of the most interesting moments of last year’s French presidential election happened when the left’s candidate Ségolène Royal called for the French to learn to love and to be proud of their flag again by not being afraid to use more regularly. She was widely criticized not by the right, but many in her own camp who even went as far as to suggest that she was using national socialist (Nazi) ideas to score cheap political points. America’s love affair with its flag is unique because America believes religiously not only in its uniqueness, but in its greatness. This ardent and unshakable faith in American exceptionalism explains why it views its flag like many religious people view the Torah, the Bible or the Koran, as something divine that represents a transformational force for good in the world.
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