VA Officials Cave to Liberal Mob, Order US Flag Be Removed from Construction Site

It has become clear beyond a reasonable doubt that many politicians live in trembling fear of the left-wing mob that is committed to tearing down every statue or symbol that commemorates American history.

Look no further than an unsettling situation that unfolded in Virginia last week.

In Richmond, Virginia, an American flag was put on display at the construction site for the new General Assembly building. That makes sense, since it was just ahead of the Fourth of July, America’s birthday.

However, based on the reaction from government officials, one would think that it was the Confederate flag that was put up.

Dena Potter, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of General Services, said state officials had concerns about the flag’s safety as the nation grapples with left-wing mob violence on a mass scale.

“Over the past month we’ve seen buildings and structures around Capitol Square vandalized and flags, dumpsters, a bus and other items set ablaze during demonstrations around the city,” Potter said in an email to The Washington Post.

“When we saw the flag, we were concerned that it could become a target so we told the contractor to remove it.”

Using Potter’s logic, American cities would have to tear down just about every statue or flag. After all, any object could “become a target” of the left-wing mob.

Ultimately, the Gilbane Building Company, the general contractor at the construction site where the flag was hung, complied with the order to take it down. Not surprisingly, Potter praised Gilbane for being “very responsive when we asked them to remove it.”

The order to remove the flag outraged Eric Winston, “whose fireproofing company utilized tarps to create a giant flag” at the construction site, The Hill reported.

He made his discontent perfectly clear in a Facebook post:

“Since when is this flag, on this weekend, IN THIS COUNTRY, a Target?” Winston asked. “Let me guess, if I had a black lives matter flag it would be ‘ok’!?”

Winston proceeded to offer up some advice that every politician confronted by the liberal mob should take: “Grow a pair, and stop thinking everything we have or had in this once great state is offensive.”

After reminding the far-left mob that “the American flag is a symbol of freedom,” Winston delivered a message to the leaders who caved to them: “Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor, or whoever made the call, stop letting the inmates run the [asylum]!”

Sadly, many in the far-left mob do not view the American flag as a symbol of freedom. Just this past weekend, for instance, far-left protesters associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party spent Independence Day lighting an American flag on fire outside of the White House.

Believe it or not, some of these “inmates” on the far left seem to have a problem with freedom. Officials at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania have also let “the inmates run the asylum” by giving in to an irrational demand to remove the word “freedom” from university identification cards.

By setting the symbol of our national unity on fire and rejecting the promise of freedom, these far-left radicals have made it clear beyond a reasonable doubt that they hate America.

Unfortunately, it’s not just fringe leftist who have demonstrated contempt for the red, white and blue.

In the past two years, two prominent figures in the Democratic Party have tried to make the case that America was never great: former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Ironically, these people have the right to trash America precisely because it is such a great country.

As Winston pointed out, “the American flag is a symbol of freedom.” The United States values freedom, as demonstrated by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which protects the freedoms of speech, assembly, worship and protest. People in many other countries can only dream of having such rights.

The Constitution gives the American people the right to proudly hang their national symbol in public without having to worry about some government busybody coming after them.

What happened in Virginia last week is a preview of what will happen on a mass scale should the anti-American left ever gain complete control of the levers of government.

Americans must stand up for their freedoms before it’s too late.