optimistic
We've had the Nevada flag for a while, but we just bought the (American made, including the brackets) US flag just yesterday from a place in Sparks during a marathon 7-hour day of doing piles of errands that we had put off while working on the porch. As a bonus, just as we were getting the flags set up, the through BNSF freight came into shot. (Don't forget that BNSF's effective owner, Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world, favors increased taxes on the wealthy, estate taxes to prevent over-concentration of wealth among too few people, and told the railroad to focus on long-term investment, not "what have you done for me this quarter.")
I have not felt good about flying the US flag for quite a while, given how the Republicans had to some extent hijacked it, effectively saying that only they could be patriotic as they substituted nationalism for patriotism. I dislike the "Thin Blue Line" flags for similar reasons. But I'm feeling better today, and I would encourage anyone who feels the way I do to buy an (American-made) US flag and display it. Reclaim patriotism (not nationalism!) and pride in our country.
As I have said in several other places today, we have a long way to go to repair the damage of the past four years. Counting the silverware in the White House is the least of our worries. But it feels like we may have turned the wheel slightly away from the iceberg dead ahead. However, the ship is still navigating through an ice field, and it's still winter, and probably will be for a while. Still, it's time to take stock and hope that maybe, just maybe, the Rule of Law (remember that it's not the same thing as "Law & Order") may prevail and that our country may step back from the brink of an authoritarian dictatorship toward which we were heading.
