The Political Flag Issue

When I first heard the issue of the flag not being lowered for soldier's deaths, I too wondered why. It seemed that if we had lowered the flag for our fallen in the past, why did our new government decide not to if they respect our troops.

After reading up on this on military sites and blogs and watching parliament (no info on MSM on this), I discovered the following reasons:

1. The tradition has never been to lower the flag at Parliament Hill for the fallen soldiers. The liberal government/Chretien decided to break tradition and do this during the "friendly fire" incident and was inconsistent about it. They did not lower the flag for every soldier.
2. The government now is actually maintaining the tradition that has been in place for 80 years, not breaking tradition
3. During times of war, the flag is supposed to fly high to show our solidarity as a country. In times of heavy casualties during previous wars, if the flag was lowered it would have been lowered all the time. This is not good for morale or for the country. It should fly high.
4. On November 11th, the flag is lowered in memory of all our fallen soldiers. Remember that this November 11th and make an effort this year to honor them.
   

It is sad that the main stream media and the liberals are using these soldiers' deaths for political purposes. For shame. To read an email from a woman who has personally lost a Canadian hero, read From A Canadian Forces Widow.

As an aside, there is a movement going on to show our support for the military. Everyone should wear red on Fridays to show our support. I think this is a great idea. So, remember, wear red on Fridays.