Happy Flag Day

From the New Hampshire Union Leader:

IT WAS 230 years ago today that the Contintental Congress approved the design — “thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white in a blue field, representing the new constellation” — that would become possibly the most recognizable symbol in the world.

She flies today with 50 five-pointed stars (Congress called for six-pointed stars, but either George Washington or Betsy Ross, no one is sure, changed the order to five-pointed ones) and her image can instantly ignite the passions of people anywhere on the globe.

She has come to stand for liberty, justice, equality before the law, and representative government run by and for the people. Some who misunderstand her symbolism have taken other meanings from her bold, proud colors. But we Americans know that she represents the ideals to which we as a nation have always aspired, even if we sometimes fail to achieve them.

Fly her high, and fly her proudly. Wear her, as so many Americans do, on your T-shirt or ball cap, purse or bumper. She is the great banner of our great nation, and after more than two and a quarter centuries she continues to represent what is best in all of us.