A flag I can appreciate

This country is hard to love, much of the time. We all know the score: wars, empire, racism, misogyny, corruption, an elite class stealing from the people whose work sustains it all.

And yet, I know of nowhere else where so many, at such a scale and over an extended time frame, have struggled democratically for justice, equality, diversity, and freedom. All those goods aren't always ascendant -- certainly not at present -- but this country tells a worthy story. And we're all a part of it and have no choice but to make of it the best we can.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.