my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it’s to a king & a kingdom

It is sad to see so many Catholics live as if their first allegiance was to the State, and that their commitment to Holy Mother Church is primarily something separate from most of human existence. It is a “reservation” or escapist mentality. It demonstrates just how deep the secularist notion of separation of Church and State has infected the American soul, and that in the end the State holds the trump card.

I remember when this realization first hit me. It was 2004. I was still a Protestant, attending a fellowship that is typically identified with jingoism and the sort of “patriotism” that embraces the belligerent notion that America is a sort of “second Israel” deserving our blind allegiance regardless of whether it be right or wrong.

One day upon leaving the grounds, I noticed that the pastor had decided to fly both the “Christian flag” (i.e. Protestant flag) and the American flag. As I drove past the two of them, I noticed that the Christian flag was flying about one foot lower than the American flag. I thought it was a mistake. Turns out, it is a federal law. If an ecclesial establishment wishes to fly the American flag alongside any other flag, the American flag must hold prominence, and this is done by flying it higher than any other.

The truth of the matter hit hard, as it isn’t a petty law over a piece of colored cloth. No, it is symbolic to the core, with supremacy and allegiance being at stake.

Here is a link to a rather old blog entry dealing with this particular experience and how it changed the way I perceived the concepts of allegiance and supremacy.

Stop Flying Them Upside Down
http://paleocrat.blogspot.com/2005/03/stop-flying-them-upside-down.html

I followed this up with a critique of the notion of American exceptionalism.

America Not All That Exceptional
http://paleocrat.blogspot.com/2005/03/america-exceptional.html