Michigan doctor flies U.S. flag upside down

It isn't every day that you see the American flag flying with the stripes on top. Still, one man in Michigan knowing his flag etiquette decided to do just that over the Fourth of July weekend.

A doctor in Downriver, Michigan has drawn a great deal of interest over why he has chosen to fly the American flag upside down in front of his office. Dr. Thomas Byrd, an eye doctor decided to fly the American flag in front of his office upside down over the Fourth of July weekend. It wasn’t a test of people’s eye sight either, Dr. Byrd came up with the idea when he asked himself some questions. In an interview Byrd said, “What’s the state of our nation at this time? And I thought that she’s in distress. So, I thought I would flip the flag in the long-standing sign of distress.” He went on to say, “and by inverting the flag I would perhaps get a few people to ask themselves the same question. How is the Constitution doing? How is my liberty? How is my freedom compared to a few years ago?” What Dr. Byrd wanted to make clear is that this was never intended to be a sign of disrespect, “A lot of people misunderstood and somehow thought I had some beef with the United States or that I disrespected the flag or the country, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.” Byrd simply wanted to get people to pay attention and hopefully ask themselves similar questions. According to the U.S. Flag code the flag should only be flown upside down in order to signal dire distress or instances of extreme danger to life and/or property. In Byrd’s opinion the United States is facing that right now. Even as a conservative Byrd disagreed with former President George W. Bush and how he interpreted the Constitution. Still when asked who is a greater threat to the Constitution Bush or Barack Obama he said, “I think the Obama Administration by far.”