Today I ordered an American flag. 4 feet by 6 feet. Embroidered stars. Bought from Amazon for a mere $19.99. I was prepared to pay more. I wanted to pay more, but that's all a flag costs, even today, two days after the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States.

Michael and I have a little flag pole holder outside our house, but only because we used to hang a Halloween flag. Like so many people of my political persuasion, I've never felt comfortable flying an American flag. That was something jingoistic wing-nuts did. For people like me the American flag had come at times to seem like a cloak that hid things like a devotion to military might, a disdain for the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

But as of 11PM Tuesday night, I feel an overwhelming patriotism. In Grant Park, I recited the Pledge of Allegiance with my hand over my heart, something I haven't done since third grade when I first decided that the politics I learned at my parents' knee demanded that I cross my arms over my chest and frown at the flag in protest every morning. (Yeah, I still left out the "under God" part. Old habits.)

I am the proudest of proud Americans today. How amazing is that?