How Many Flags Make You A Patriot?

Opinion

by

Perspectives

Special to United Methodist Insight | June 10, 2026

I occasionally drive down one particular street in Hillsboro, Oregon. To my right is a house with six American flags in an otherwise tastefully landscaped front yard. My use of “otherwise” implies I think the six flags are excessive. I think one would do just fine.

I’m sure the homeowner feels very patriotic. My question is “how many flags make you a patriot?” I’ve never been a “public display” patriot. One flag hanging on our house has been “show” enough.

As I consider the six-flag display, I ask my question and come up with a surprising, and perhaps even controversial, answer: No flag makes me a patriot. It’s how I act on behalf of patriotic values that correctly identifies me as a patriot!

The flag is a helpful reminder of patriotic work, but it mustn’t substitute for the ongoing, relentless need to work for Democracy. Which brings me to the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in Washington, D.C.

Personally, I shudder as I anticipate the vanity-driven expressions of “patriotism” that will come on President Trump’s June 14 birthday bash. Maybe he’ll hug the American flag as he's done often before.

Cage-fighting at the White House, really? Don’t get me started on “the ballroom,” the Lincoln reflecting pool, his “Arch de Nauseous” project, and $250 banknote with a menacing portrait of Trump! Projects and pronouncements leading up to July 4 and beyond, like a Grand Prix race around the Washington Monument?

All these projects test my resolve to be a civil patriot.

I recognize many people are enthralled with much of what our current president does and proposes. I’m definitely not one of those people.

I use that word “enthralled” purposely. It means someone or something “fascinates me, holds me spellbound”. That’s one way to describe fanatic followers of Mr. Trump.

I recently saw Nicolle Wallace’s “Best People” interview with documentarian Ken Burns. At one point, he quoted part of Abraham Lincoln’s second Annual Message to Congress from Dec. 1, 1862. It was one month before Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

 “We can succeed only by concert. It is not ‘can any of us imagine better?’ but, ‘can we all do better?’…The [civil war] occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”

I was enthralled by Lincoln’s caution that we “must disenthrall ourselves...” to save the country.” Did you know “disenthrall” means to set free from bondage, slavery, or a controlling influence? Wow!

Being disenthralled means freedom from an obsession, freedom from being enchanted by something/someone, freedom from a misconception or false belief.

I share this out of deep concern for extremist believers on all sides.  

An enthralled patriot who either hugs a flag – or burns a flag – needs to be disenthralled from their potentially political and emotional slavery to toxic political correctness.

So I seriously suggest that “enthralled” patriots may need to be “disenthralled.” They need to recover from any patriotic blindness that does not act out values that reflect the best patriotism our history calls us to embody. When obsessed by an idea or a person, we can become enslaved by that idea and/or person.

Many of us believe Trump’s presidency is seriously dangerous. Many others believe his presidency is our country’s salvation. It’s likely we all need to be disenthralled of superficial patriotism – so  together, we can find new ways to heal, and save, our country.

Please don’t show me your flags. Show me how you mean to heal our democracy!

The Rev. Paul Graves is a “retired and repurposed” United Methodist pastor who has been active in civil affairs for decades. Previously he was mayor of Sandpoint, Wash., and now resides in Hillsboro, Ore., to be blose to his grandchildren.