BRATTLEBORO-It's good to see the American flag flying at half-staff again after the exoneration of our redoubtable 47th president of the United States.
Across the nation, flag protocol is to fly the colors at half-staff for a 30-day period of mourning at the passing of a president - this time, to honor former President Jimmy Carter until Jan. 29.
At the Capitol and in 30 states, government leaders raised their flags for Inauguration Day, a symbolic gesture to mollify our irascible retread president who complained about how it would look over his reinstallation.
Even Richard Nixon was honorable enough to order flags be flown at half-staff for his own presidential inauguration in 1973, in honor of his predecessor, Harry S. Truman. Trump has been flying his flag high above Mar-a-Lago for at least a week before his coronation.
I respect our flag. I mourn the passing of a great president who did his best to serve all of us in his service to our country.
It's hard for me to respect the man we have returned to the Oval Office. By word and deed, his demands and deceits lie outside the bounds of basic decency. Outrage is the name of his game, and he's adroit at provoking it, masterfully manipulating the masses.
Respect is both given and earned. I give the president and most everyone the common decency of respect. The president has yet to earn my respect to overcome the disrespect he lays on all those he perceives as less than loyal and allegiant to him. He has repeatedly proven himself vindictive and vengeful.
He disrespects us all by undermining law and order, thumbing his nose at the scales of justice, and rigging our American institutions to serve him, rather than us. His whitewash of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot and his blanket pardon of convicted co-conspirators and insurrectionists constitute extreme abuse of his presidential powers.
The U.S. flag flies over the White House at half-staff today, not just in mourning for President Carter, but also in mourning for government staffers who are being fired - dismissed despite their earnest work and earned expertise.
Like many Americans who feel disrespected by the executive orders being rescinded or issued on a whim and the stroke of his pen, I hope more of us will come to tire of his recycled diatribes, recant confidence in him, and refuse to salute his Highness.
Hank Lange
Brattleboro
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