 could you show a little less patriotism please  we ll teach you to have an oversized symbol of america  residents and business of meridian township the township s zoning board of appeals voted 50 last wednesday to reject belle tire s request for a variance to fly an american flag larger than the 35 square feet permitted by the township i m glad i bought my tires at belle tire i didn t do it because they had a big flag i did for that oldfashioned capitalist reason that they has the best price but i m all for business that proudly display the symbol of america this is what haslett resident chitra smith thinks and i use the term loosely hypercommercialism is trying to get its nose under the tent by wrapping itself in the flag not quite desecration but truly abuse of a hallowed national symbol you can picture the hope and change and coexist bumper stickers on her car can t you i m not sure i ve ever thought that seeing a big flag at a car dealership was abuse of a national symbol perhaps she saw that term when she reads her saul alinsky book and thought it would sound good to a reporter i wonder what other terms she uses to denigrate the crass bourgeoisie meridian township assistant planner martha wyatt said belle tire was asked to either put up a 5 foot by 7foot flag or ask for a variance from the zoning board of appeals the township has allowed the larger flag to fly until the zoning board of appeals decided the matter last wednesday that s big of them in their defense meridian township does have a lot of democrats and democrats are usually easily offended by any sign of the american way of life like the american flag or cars that run on gasoline or disagreeing with a president for driving the country into the ground on the bright side at least belle tire is being allowed to display an american flag unlike the 13year old in california that put a flag on his bicycle and was told by the school to remove it  the flag apparently causes racial tension in california so it could be worse we could live in california  