Dear Editor:

Trump’s edict of 8/25/2025 “Prosecuting Burning Of The American Flag” appeals to our sense of propriety as Americans. Our flag stands as one of our country’s most sacred symbols and the suggestion that it be treated with disrespect is abhorrent to most of us.

The flag itself is a symbol of the heritage and traditions that have made our country great. It stands for the laws and values that have made America a beacon of freedom throughout the world. It is a metaphor for the promise of a just society and a people secure in their freedoms.

Metaphorically Trump has trampled on our flag with his attacks on our laws and traditions. This space is too small to list the many assaults to our freedoms we have suffered with the Trump presidency. He is systematically undermining the foundations of our freedoms and rights. These freedoms were paid for with the blood and sacrifices made by true patriots who knew the meaning and greatness of our revolutionary endeavor.

Any tin-pot dictator can wave a flag claiming patriotism but, without meaning it becomes an empty symbol, or, to borrow biblical language, a graven image. One scholar has suggested that the idolatry of an empty symbol is like going to a restaurant and eating the menu instead of ordering a meal from it.

Yes, let us hold our flag in sacred regard, but let us not lose sight of the meaning of this noble symbol, now being dragged through the mud by a corrupt regime.

Fred Nehring

Boothbay