Claudette Roehrig: Extremists Hijacked the U.S. Flag. The Forces of Democracy Must Reclaim It.

In celebration of Flag Day, an eloquent and inspirational statement of values and principles, from the leader of the Democratic Women of Santa Barbara club.

(Editor's note: A 19th-century grassroots movement launched the idea of an annual national celebration of the American flag, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, long before President Harry Truman signed National Flag Day legislation in 1949. So it seems fitting that a grassroots event in Santa Barbara — a Democratic Women's luncheon on behalf of a Senate candidate fighting the forces of Trumpism — was the local setting for an uncommonly forceful and lucid statement about the meaning of the flag. Here's an excerpt of what Dem Women President Claudette Roehrig had to say about the holiday. /jr).

By Claudette Roehrig

In 1892, American schoolchildren first learned these words:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

That original pledge was simple, secular, and profoundly democratic. It asked us to pledge not to a party or a single creed, but to a shared republic—and to one another.

It imagined a country where we could argue fiercely about policy and still recognize that we are bound together in a common project.

On this Flag Day, I want us to hear that original language as both a challenge and an invitation.

“One nation, indivisible” is a radical statement in a time when some are working overtime to divide us—by race, by gender, by who we love, by where we were born.

And “with liberty and justice for all” is not just a closing line—it is a constitutional promise. A promise that has never been fully realized, but has always been worth fighting for.

Frederick Douglass once said, “The Constitution of the United States knows no distinction between citizens on account of color.”

That was not a description of the country as it was—it was a demand for what it must become.

Unfinished promise. That same unfinished promise lives in every fight we take on today: protecting voting rights, defending reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy, standing with immigrants and refugees, advancing racial justice, securing LGBTQ+ equality, ensuring that economic dignity is not reserved for the few, and making healthcare a right for all, not a privilege for the lucky or the wealthy.

And it lives in the urgent work to make equality explicit and permanent in our Constitution. The Equal Rights Amendment is how we finish that work—how we make it unmistakably clear that equality is not conditional, not temporary, and not up for debate.

Somewhere along the way, the flag itself was hijacked.

We have watched extremists wrap themselves in it while attacking our democracy.

We saw it carried into the Capitol on January 6th.

We have seen it used as a symbol of exclusion instead of belonging.

That is a desecration of our flag and of the values it represents.

The history of the pledge itself reminds us that our symbols are not frozen in time—they are shaped by political choices. In the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, Congress added the words “under God” to draw a contrast with the officially atheist Soviet Union and to send a message about American identity in that moment.

Overnight, “one nation, indivisible” became “one nation under God, indivisible”—but the deepest meaning of the pledge was never that one added phrase.

Because the beating heart of that flag—just like the beating heart of the pledge—is still “indivisible” and “liberty and justice for all.”

True test of patriotism. The real test of patriotism isn’t how loudly you recite the words or how big a flag you hang off your truck—it’s whether you’re willing to live up to them.

The real test is whether we are willing to expand that “all”—and defend it in law.

We are the ones protecting the right to vote.

We are the ones defending bodily autonomy.

We are the ones standing with immigrants and working families.

We are the ones demanding dignity, safety, equality, and healthcare for every person in this country.

And we are the ones who will not stop until that equality is written plainly into the Constitution.

That is not a rejection of American values. That is the fulfillment of them.

So on this Flag Day, let us say it plainly: WE ARE THE TRUE PATRIOTS!

Reclaiming the flag. We are reclaiming that flag.

We are reclaiming that promise.

And we are finishing the work.

We will not be intimidated by those who shout the loudest while undermining democracy.

We will not be distracted by those who try to divide us.

And we will not accept a version of this country where “for all” is negotiable.

We are building a nation that is actually indivisible.

We are demanding a Constitution that actually guarantees equality.

We are insisting that liberty and justice are not selective—they are universal.

This is our flag.

It belongs to everyone who believes in democracy, in dignity, in equality under the law.

This is our Constitution.

And we will not stop until it reflects all of us, protects all of us, and serves all of us.

This is our country.

And we are not giving it back.

Claudette Roehrig, president of Democratic Women of Santa Barbara, is a marriage and family therapist and former board president of Domestic Violence Solutions.

Image: “Birth of Old Glory,” 1917 painting by Percy Moran (Wikipedia).