[QUOTE="hortysir, post: 3948935]In fact, our state flags used to fly ABOVE the national flag except on federal lands or properties.
I don;t know when the Fed seized control of that top spot, but I'd be willing to wager that it was shortly after the war of northern aggression
:bigsmile:[/QUOTE]
Maybe it is because I am not an American that i fail to see the merit in that... , but in most countries, the nation supersedes the states..
You are loyal to the country first and state next.. for it is the prestige and power of the nation that empowers a state as part of that national identity.
I don;t recall people identifying themselves as for instance.. Texan first, and American later.. usually when asked where they come from, it is.. America and then when asked where from in America, would one say California, Texas, or whatever..
And this applies to any nationality.. or where would you start as basic identification? why not your village, town, city, then State and then nation...?
When asked to fill out a form in a foreign nation, you are asked for nationality as you hold a passport signifying exactly that.. your states never issued you local passports for domestic travel, did they?
And national identity unifies a population.. bad enough we have humanity fragmented on national lines.. and then local states.. never mind the divisions of the human race along caste, creed, colour.. etc
Why be ashamed of prioritizing an identity as a national citizen, and then sub classify as whatever state or town you wanna be known to be from.. and then .. would people born there have a greater right to those who moved there, knowing that citizens should not be restricted from moving to any territory on the soil of the country they belong to..
To me, this leads to parochialism and nowhere is the fatality of such destructive divisions more manifest than in India where states were divided on linguistic lines, further accentuating a local identity to the point where people from one state fight on border claims, as though they were nations at war.. and blood continues to be spilled even today, when violence flares up.