Rant #3,610: Rally 'Round the Flag

The Jimmy Carter farewell tour to the nation is in full swing now.

This will go on for a few days, culminating on January 9, which is a national holiday of sorts, a day of remembrance, a day to reflect on his life, career, and his time as our 39th president.

As I have previously mentioned, I did not think he was a good president; in fact, I think he was probably the worst president that we have had during my 67 years of life, from Dwight Eusenhower through the second presidency of Donald Trump.

But he was our president, through good and bad, and he deserves the respect that the passing of a commander in chief should receive.

That includes a relatively simple gesture of respect: flying our American flag at half staff for a specified amount of time.

Flags in New York State were ordered to be flown at half staff since December 28, and stay that way until Jan. 28, pretty much mirroring what the national flag mandate is.

Pretty much every municipality in the nation is following these flag guidelines, except on Long island, where Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman at first did not lower the county's flags at all, but then slightly reneged, agreeing to lower the flags for just three days.

He has given absolutely no reasons at all for his decision, but it is pretty easy to see what his thinking is.

Although President-Elect Trump did show remorse at the death of Carter--he actually wrote a pretty straight-forward message, saying while he didn't agree with Carter politically, he respected him--Trump also stated that he was upset that the flags will be at half-staff during his inauguration, which is on January 15.

Thus, you can bet that Blakeman, a Republican, is reacting to what Trump said, and thus, the flags aren't being displayed as they are everywhere else.

Personally, even though I also was not a fan of Carter, I am a fan of the presidency, and when we have a commander in chief pass on, no matter what party he has represented, the flag must fly at half-staff.

It is a show of respect for both the person AND the position.

Each of our living presidents will one day leave us, and each and every one of them will deserve this same gesture of respect when their time comes--

And that includes Trump.

So his jabbering is just that, and why Blakeman is taking seriously what the president-elect said is beyond me.

Is Blakeman trying to make some type of statement?

Is he trying to get in Trump's good graces?

Does he have a personal reason for his actions?

Maybe this will all eventually come out in the wash, but right now, it is befuddling at best.

Jimmy Carter was our nation's president. 

Even though he was our commander in chief for just one four-year term, he was our president.

He has left us, and he must be shown respect in his passing.

What more needs to be said?