WHAT THAT flag really stands for (Shutterstock).

This is the season of patriotism, real and manufactured. Memorial Day has just passed and in a few weeks it will be Flag Day, followed by Independence Day.

The Stars and Stripes will flourish for several days and then retreat back to a few public buildings and then emerge again for Veterans Day in November, before quickly yielding to images of turkeys and pumpkins.

Our flag – “Old Glory,” “The Star-Spangled Banner,” etc.– is widely exhibited, but how often honored? I’ve seen men’s shorts made in its image, and I do not care to see people sitting down on “the flag that makes you free.”

When Ku Klux Klan members paraded in the streets of Washington, D.C. in the 1920s, they hoisted out flag above their excreable white hoods. When rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2016, many of them carried our flag, and some even used a flag-bearing metal pole to attack police officers.

Clearly, the flag means different things to different people. The term “American exceptionalism” has been criticized as ignorant “jingoism” by some on the left. But America is exceptional and so is the flag it represents.

When the American Revolution began in 1775-6, it created the only free government on the face of the entire planet. For enlightened thinkers all across the world, the American example was something – despite all of its flaws – for other nations to aspire to.

Where America was flawed, there was correction. The Civil War ended slavery; the Civil Rights Movement ended segregation.

American has been the home of many widely-copied struggles for environmentalism, women’s rights, justice for the handicapped and sexual minorities and more.

One of the most potent arguments for change overseas has been “well, they’re doing it in America.”

That’s all because America is not “just another country.” Our problem with immigration comes from the fact that everybody wants to come here, and not just poor people. America is great not just because it’s big and powerful, but because it’s a free and … mostly … a fair society with opportunity for all.

Take away all that, and the “U-S-A” and its flag are just a geographical expression and a piece of fabric.

But in this patriotic period we should consider what’s really great about our nation and why pledging allegiance to the flag is not just a ritual but a promise to uphold what makes them both an example – still in progress – of what humans can accomplish.