An Interesting Case

I read about that one the other day Camping World makes a little over 3 billion a year and I am sure they have lawyers to keep the flag waving.

What town? We can all write them and tell them to show some patriotism!

Communism in action and like OC said, they gotta have better things to do with there time.
Looks like maybe someone has an axe to grind.

Well Larry not sure if they are crooks but a RV is a rolling nightmare if one is not mechanically inclined and there is a lot of buyers remorse for some.

I can't believe a town has nothing better to worry about than the size of an American flag. We have a Gander store which is owned by Camping World and they fly a huge flag and it is a source of pride for this area.

In Texas the state flag isn't allowed to be larger than the state.

Makes me want an RV.

Clever free advertising.

Paulie Walnuts agrees.

I've been following this case. It has some interesting back story:

1st, the reason the community even has a flag size restriction: It stems from the time that the state was removing statues with a racist background (statues of Civil War figures, not erected during historic times after the Civil War, but erected during the later Jim-Crow era as a form of intimidation). Some people responded to the removal of these statues by flying giant Confederate flags along the highway. Since this was not the message that community wanted to display to interstate travelers, they created legislation limiting the size of a flag that could be displayed within a certain distance of a highway. Because of 1st amendment protections, they could not just limit the size of certain flags, as that would have been discriminatory. So they were forced to limit the size of all flags flown near a highway.

2nd, what is often not reported in this case is that the owner of the Camping World petitioned the community, and received a variance to fly a flag larger than that normally allowed. He then put up a flag twice as large as what he'd received a variance to fly. So, you could maybe consider him the Kim Kardashian of the RV world, intentionally manufacturing a situation in which he could play the victim for ratings.

It'll be interesting to see where it goes.

It looks like I have the dissenting opinion here.

IMHO, places like this are disrespecting the flag by using it for the commercial purpose of calling attention to their business. They aren’t flying the flag out of any sense of patriotism. They are flying it for selfish greed. To me, that is a disgrace.

I have never really read too much into the motives of a business that displays the flag or doesn't. Car dealerships/ RV Sales/ new home communities typically have really large flags flying...it is just the way it is around here...there are a lot of veterans in Arizona, and a lot of people that have deep respect for the flag.

Most businesses exist not to shaft people and rip them off, but to bring services and goods to the public...If they have a huge flag I don't doubt that it is used to connect with that segment of the population, but I also don't assume that that is the only motivation for flying the flag.

In the case of the Camping World video being mentioned in the RV thread, that was one guys opinion, it sounds pretty convincing that they have funky sales practices, but I certainly don't associate it with them capitalizing on patriotism...if they do shame on them individually, but not fair to assume another person or company does so with the same intent.

At work, every tractor in our fleet has the flag on it, every trailer has the Flag with God Bless America, and the patch is on my daily uniform...the CEO of our company is a Former Army officer and he has initiated a program through the military assistance program to train veterans as they transition into the workplace, and I am amazed at typically the respectful manner that the military guys come on board with. I am proud to work for a company, that truly cares for the shipper and consignee, and treats the employees with respect...and chooses to display the flag respectfully.

That's the whole thing; it's definitely not a 1st amendment violation, as long as the law applies equally to all flags. Like I said above, the only reason this is even an issue is because the community wanted to ban giant Confederate flags, but there's no legal way to do just that. They had to ban ALL giant flags, specifically to avoid it being a 1st amendment violation.

The HOA/ Control mentality often lives on in local elected officials...big fish, little pond.

Exactly. Also, it should be noted that the city isn't saying they can't fly an American flag, it just needs to within city ordinance parameters. Those exist for a reason.