John,
80 years ago today, the Allied Forces stormed Normandy Beach and began to liberate Europe from the Nazis. This historical pinnacle moment is a reminder that the freedoms that we enjoy today never came easy, and that many brave Americans gave their lives to defend our democracy and our way of life.
Following D-Day, when veterans of World War II came home from across the globe to return to normal life, their lives all took different paths. Some, like my grandparents, started businesses that still operate today. Some became Democrats. Some became Republicans. Not all of them agreed on who should be the next president.
But they all flew their flag right-side-up.
The greatest generation were patriots, and they put their country before party. Something we could all learn from in today’s day in age.
Today, you don’t need to travel across an ocean to face the biggest threat to our freedoms. The biggest threat to our democracy is a cult-following MAGA wing of the Republican Party who stormed our Capitol, tried to overturn a presidential election, and now finds pride in flying their flag upside down. Extremists like Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene have hijacked the Republican Party that my grandparents once belonged to and turned it into the party of Trump, with the upside-down-flag as their symbol. And they’ve even recruited a Supreme Court Justice in Samuel Alito to join them.
It’s abhorrent.
And what’s worse is that our current representative, Ken Calvert, is standing by their side. But unlike Calvert, when I get to Congress, I’ll never put one convicted felon over the 750,000 Americans in Riverside County that I’m sworn in to represent.
Instead, I’ll work just as hard for those who voted for me as those who voted for my opponent. Because that’s the American spirit that our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents put their lives on the line for during World War II, and that our flag represents.
So on today’s anniversary, let’s remember what it means to be an American, and let’s fly our flag right-side-up.
Together we will win this election and protect our democracy,
Will Rollins
