Flag-Out

OLD GLORY

The Keed.

This is our old flag. The blue star-field is faded.

A week ago, I ordered a fancy-dan new flag online.
It cost $30, which seems overpriced, until you find it was made by in America instead of China.
It’s made of individual stripes stitched together, and individual stars embroidered on the field.
Our old flag was made like that too — not a print. But it was polyester; probably made in China.
The new flag is nylon, made by Annin & Co. in North-America (factories in Ohio and Virginny), a storied flag-maker since 1847.
The next question is whether to get a rotating flagpole; another 60 smackaroos.
The advantage is the flag and flagpole were made for each other — a package: 90 bucks.
It would solve two problems; one which I don’t consider very serious:
-1) The new flag is slightly smaller than the old flag, which could mean relocating the mounting-hardware: two hookeyes.
That would mean drilling a new quarter-inch hole through the flagpole, which makes the old hole a weak spot.
-2) The old mounting-system didn’t rotate, so the flag would twist around the pole. This isn’t that serious; and I have my doubts a rotating flagpole could keep up with the wind. (Plus it may not fit my holder.)
Furthermore, one of the plastical clips that attached the flag to the hardware has broken, and may be impossible to replace without engineering a new mounting-system.
So the $90 package may be more convenient than the stinking hairball I’ve been presented with.
We’ve already done a massive amount of research, since I think 90 smackaroos is ridiculous for the whole stinkin’ kabosh.
But direct, an Annin flag costs even more, and we don’t have gobs of time to save 50 cents.
I might spring for the $90 package to avoid dorking around.
What I ended up doing was buying longer hooks instead of the plastical thingies, that allow me to attach the Annin flag to my existing pole.
So “Flag-Out!”
I feel flying the flag is very important.
It’s not just for tub-thumping REPUBLICANS to wrap themselves in.

I had a mentally-retarded kid-brother (Down Syndrome) who lived at home, and loudly insisted the flag be flown every day. “Flag-Out!” I fly the flag partly in his honor. (He died at 14 in 1968.)