The Mayor of Great Falls, Montana, Michael Winters, was angered that some (or at least one) of the Tea Party protestors in Great Falls were flying the flag of the United States upside down as a signal for distress.  He confronted the protestors and it got a little testy.

The Mayor’s views about this issue were printed in the April 7 Great Falls Tribune (not on-line that I can find) and a letter to the editor was also printed on the same day giving one of the protestor’s point of view about the issue.

You can read the story HERE.  The comment section of the story was popping with over 300 comments as of today.

I applaud Mayor Winters for his actions.  Heck, I salute him.  If he runs again, I may vote for him!  Maybe Winters should not have used such “salty” language, but nevertheless he got his point across and that is good.  Thank you Mr. Mayor.

Title 36, Chapter 10, of the U.S. Code states:

The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

I don’t see where the person flying the flag upside down was in extreme danger to his/her life or property.

By the way, having Barack Obama as our President or Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi running Congress does not fit into this category no matter which way you spin it.

I attended a Tea Party event last year and I personally believe that there should be less spending by our Federal government.  Yes, I believe that I am taxed way too much.

But to fly the flag upside down takes their protests into the gutter.  They lose my support on this one.  I’m sure not all of the protestors on this particular day supported the actions of the man flying the flag upside down, but they should have policed their own.  So yes, the Tea Party protestors that day are to blame for letting their protest get into the gutter.

By the way, for the “constitutional scholars” reading this, I could really care less what our courts say about the freedom to treat our flag unpatriotically.  Most of the people serving as judges in this country never wore our country’s uniform.  Most don’t understand what the flag means to a veteran.

As a veteran, I could say that I served our country so these people could protest and do with the flag whatever.  Some of my friends died protecting our country and our freedoms.  But that’s easy to say.  It’s just not right to treat our flag this way, period.

After the actions of at least one member of the Tea Party at this protest and the others allowing it to happen, it really places doubts in my mind that this movement has the answers to our country’s problems.

By the way, April 15 is now open on my calendar.