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Thursday, April 30th 2026

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No, I cannot “adore the flag,” as Gen. Sherman once suggested

By | openforum@denverpost.com
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
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Douglas Weller waves an American flag at the Gettysburg National Military Park on July 1 in Gettysburg, Pa. The U.S. Park Service issued protest permits for three groups, including Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Real 3% Risen, on the 154th anniversary of the battle.
Mark Makela, Getty Images
Douglas Weller waves an American flag at the Gettysburg National Military Park on July 1 in Gettysburg, Pa. The U.S. Park Service issued protest permits for three groups, including Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Real 3% Risen, on the 154th anniversary of the battle.

Re: “” June 30 guest commentary. 

William Tecumseh Sherman may have asked Coloradans to “love, cherish and adore the flag” in 1889, as Cecily N. Zander writes; but asking us to do the same in 2017, as Zander does, seems a bit much. We love and cherish our families, redundant as that may be. People adore their deities. Others seek adoration for themselves. Adore the flag?

I respect the flag as a symbol of our highest ideals, but despise that same flag when my fellow citizens brandish it like a weapon and spew hate for others while purporting to be patriots. The flag represents all Americans, and I’m afraid we are not all adorable.

B.J. Smith, Longmont

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