Let's not tarnish the dignity of the flag. The flag knows no political party. And, more importantly, let's keep SCF use for its intended purpose

agree with Tech75 - using Facebook for political rants. If this crap ends up being frequent on SCF, I will leave

Look at the vote. 50% of America voted for Trump, and Im one of them. Im glad he won.

A Trump presidency will tarnish the dignity of our flag and our democracy more than anything in the history of our country. To me, our flag stands for tolerance and everything about Trump runs counter to what I believe our flag should stand for.
This ist not a political issue. It is a matter of civics and If SCF cannot be used to address civic issues, it's purpose is certainly unclear at best

Post is perfectly appropriate.
Poster considers the election of Donald Trump an issue of great significance. You also have a right to disagree. But you should not insist that scf is no place for such a comment. It's simply a personal opinion like much of everything else posted here.
Thanks

would love to hear from #benhv about whether this is how he feels this site should be used

That's part of what makes this so scary. Nearly 50% of the people who voted, voted for a mean spirited, racist, misogynistic, man who has spent his entire life enriching himself to the detriment of others. This man is not a public servant in any way. He is taking advantage of the discontent of the American people and will use this to his own advantage.
We need the 50% of the people who didn't vote for him to stand up and help educate those who can't see this. It's true that our political system has failed us. Our economic system is failing us and our healthcare system is failing us but Trump is not going to solve these problems. To be fair, Clinton wouldn't be able to solve them either, especially with a Republican congress, but at least she is capable of diplomacy and restraint.
I'll take clear headed diplomacy over heavy handed incivility any day of the week

On a personal level I don't believe that we should fly the flag at half staff. I am also sad for what happened last night but do not feel this is the gesture that unified us. I wrote some words on my personal (read: not SeeClickFix's opinion) here: https://medium.com/@benberkowitz/never-has-your-local-government-and-your-local-participation-mattered-more-18611cb00d04?source=linkShare-a58e3345bad8-1478713051

As this post is about a suggestion for public infastructure, it is within the terms of service and should remain open. We ask more than ever that you remain courteous to each other and try hard to listen and understand the opinions of those that do not share the same views.

*gesture that unifies us

If it's like this then ; State Department in Benghazi had a flag proudly waving.

Ben,
Thanks for providing us with a clear headed and well spoken opinion. In some ways, it might be appropriate to fly the flag at half staff here, but my intention was not really toward that end. This was merely a tongue-in-cheek way to start a conversation that quite clearly needs to happen at the local level. This conversation also needs to happen at a national and international level, but I think that it really needs to start locally first and broaden later. I also believe that it needs to be a conservation, not an argument.

I do not know if SCF is the most appropriate forum to have this conversation, but since I know of no other forum here that reaches out to the local community the way SCF does, I chose to start the conversation here. If somebody knows of a better place to continue this conversation I am open to suggestions.

On a personal note to you Ben, you don't need to have an in-depth talk with your four year old about this. My conversation with my eight year old twins might be a little more complicated, but experience with preschoolers is that their view of the world is generally more clear than our's is, not because they know more than we do but because they know less. I think that preschoolers are probably some of the smartest people there are and people generally don't start getting stupid until they get older. So on that note I would say, let your four year old explain this to you instead of the other way around.

I love that last line Frank. Thanks for the thoughtful response.

How about a city-wide event celebrating the values of this city? (Diversity, inclusion, etc). Fun stuff that we can all enjoy, not just one "group." Local music, food, businesses, art, etc - the norm. Could serve as a reminder that we need not rely on DC politicians to dictate the type of values we have here.

if we're looking for infrastructure recommendations, I recommend that all residents fly this flag

NHV Cyclist,
I'm in if you throw the party.

Everit St, I was referring to public infastructure not private property, but your response is a fair retort to the initial post.

Also, I hope you would understand that I would feel uncomfortable flying that flag on my home given that the name is that of an admitted sex offender.

I also want to be clear that my past statement is not a political opinion. It is a statement of fact.

I'm with you on that one Ben. Besides, flying flags can be divisive. If we are going to be part of a democracy, divisiveness is counterproductive at best.

NHVCyclist, that sounds like a great idea. Kind of a New Orleans style funeral to celebrate life rather than death. Ethnic food and arts would be in order. Taco trucks, soul food and whatever else people can dream up. Sitting around crying about this isn't going to do any good. We need to play the hand we were dealt the best we can. We need to show ourselves and the rest of the world that Americans are not xenophobes, racists, misogynists or bigots.

Some of you are angry, and the rest of us are just scared. Terrified to be more accurate.
Nothing good will ever come from anger so lets try to get rid of it or at least control it. The fear will be harder to deal with and I think a certain amount of fear is healthy. It can help keep us from killing ourselves, but too much fear can paralyze us into inaction. We need to be level headed and clear minded.
Above all, we need to address the underlying problems. We need to ask ourselves why the American people elected Donald Trump to be their leader. I don't think it's because they are all deplorable people. I suspect that there is a lot of common ground between the Trump supporters and the rest of us. There are underlying structural problem in our society and our financial system that are eating at us and we can't figure out how to fix them. Some people have chosen to blame others for these problems. They blame the politicians. They blame the immigrants,the Muslims, the blacks, the Hispanics, the poor, the wealthy or whoever is different or seems different from them. Blame does nothing to solve the problem.
One person or even one group of people cannot solve this alone. Nobody has all the answers and there is no quick fix and this country is never going to be perfect. Trump is not going to make or break us as long as we don't just sit and watch. We all need to work together to make democracy work.

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