Just a few years later, most of the flags are gone. The country is focused on a hotly contested Presidential election where the very wearing of those Flag pins has become a campaign issue. And America is assailed daily in the press - both foreign and domestic - for its foreign policy, most notably for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rightly or wrongly, the people of other countries draw little distinction between the American people and the government they elect. While visiting Ireland recently, a friend of mine began a statement with the phrase "When the Americans invaded Iraq..."

I pointed out that while the American military - along with troops from other countries - did indeed take offensive military action in Iraq at the direction of its president, the American People for the most part were still at home at work or in school - some supportive of the war, some not - all of them praying for the safe return of their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers, sisters, friends, co-workers and neighbors.

And all of them with the freedom so carefully crafted by their forefathers to express their support, disapproval, or apathy for the actions of their government - and to freely elect a new one without fear in the coming months - basic freedoms that too many around the world lack.

The jingoistic assaults on America and its people by the foreign press and people of other countries didn't bother me so much. I have come to expect it - when you are on top someone is always trying to knock you off the hill. But it was the alarmingly growing number of Americans I would hear - especially our youth - expressing shame for being part of America that made it increasingly difficult for me to sit still with my mouth shut.

Since embarking on this film I have had people write to me to tell me specifically that they were not proud to be Americans right now and that they did not support this project.

This growing voice was driving me absolutely nuts - America's two-hundred and thirty-two year old baby was being thrown out with the bath water!

So many people have sacrificed so much for almost two and one-half centuries to establish and maintain the greatest experiment in the governing of a people ever envisioned by man. People were missing the point - or just plain forgetting what they remembered so powerfully in the wake of September 2001 - that we are a nation of peoples of the entire world, living together under a constitution that guarantees our basic human rights - and with a framework for change if change is what is needed.

The feeling so moved my co-producer and I that we decided to make a film about the unique spirit of American Patriotism - to remind Americans of what it took to get here.

We begin with the colonial patriots who fought the revolution and established our constitution - united under our first flag - "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."

Along the way Americans relied on their beloved national symbol of a new Constellation, and we look at these too. It inspirited our people in 1814 at Fort McHenry, in the water-filled moats surrounding Fort Wagner in the Civil War, on top of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, on the surface of the moon in 1969 and rising above the rubble of Ground Zero in 2001. Along the way, the Flag became a venerated symbol of the lifeblood and spirit of those collective sacrifices and achievements.

This film tells those stories - but also celebrates some common Americans doing some uncommon things to recall that spirit of patriotism in a country possessing freedoms too easily taken for granted.

We hope you find it enlightening. We hope you find it entertaining. We hope it reminds each of you that every day we are cashing the checks written in blood and sweat and dreams and lives by those who went before us to make sure their children, their grandchildren - all of us - could enjoy a New Constellation of freedom so unique in the history of mankind.

John Foley

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

I had a letter sent to me recently that said: "Because of the USA invasions and illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the threat of the same taking place in Iran, I do not feel proud to be an American at the moment. Add to these, our actions of terror toward people the government has incarcerated, all over the world, and the loss of civil liberties in the US, in my opinion there is little to be proud of and much to fear from the people currently in charge in the US. Sorry I cannot support your film nor do I believe the subject is an example of a great american story. But that is just my opinion, at least I am being honest with you." [name withheld]

How do I feel about those statements? First, let me tell you that I personally know this person. The writer is an intelligent, concerned citizen and a loving and loyal parent and a self-supporting member of the community who is actively involved in working through the political process and free expression to make this country into what they believe it should be. I respect the writer's thoughts enough to put them here and I defend the right to express them.

Since the beginning of the Iraq conflict I have heard more and more Americans expressing sentiments similar to those of the writer above - and I found that troubling enough to begin this project. The wholesale surrender of American pride was like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Whether or not the course the current leadership chose in addressing the absolutely real threat of terrorism to America was correct or the best approach available is no reason to be ashamed of our country.

About the current war in Iraq - My son drove 15,000 miles worth of missions in Iraq from April 2003-2004. Of course he had my love, respect and concern - as do all of his brothers and sisters in arms. Yes, I was very personally troubled by Abu Ghraib and how that diminished America's credibility in world opinion. Yes, I was concerned when I heard my son and the other soldiers did not have the equipment to withstand IED's or sufficient body armor. These were troubling things.

So let me be clear about the intent and purpose of this film.

The purpose of this film is to educate viewers about how American patriotism came to be - that American pride is not owned by any one political party, race, economic strata or creed.

The purpose is to examine the freedoms we enjoy and the freedom to address what we feel is wrong if we feel something is wrong.

It is to educate and set the record straight about the roles that african americans, women and immigrants from all over the world had in making our nation the best in the world to live and raise our children. For we are a country of immigrants - both voluntary and involuntary.

Some quotes from the film:

"Let's tell the untold stories because they really are the true American stories and while telling these great stories, not only will you learn something, you have more respect for your fellow man and woman when you tell the WHOLE story - not part of the story - but the whole story."

- Carl Cruz -Descendent of Sgt William H. Carney - Civil War Hero, first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor

"I believe patriotism is someone who believes in his country - not right or wrong - but he wants it to be right and he wants to make it right."

- Brian O'Connor, Flag Maker

You may not agree with the comments of the writer above - but so many people have given their service and their lives so that they could be free to express it - and that, in my opinion, is what makes America great.

So is this project pro-war? Of course not. As Scott said, that is like being pro-surgery. It is however pro-soldier and pro-America - the one that the founders envisioned and embodied in the constitution.

Thank you to all of those who went before me and are still working today to provide me with the freedom to make this film and to feel safe and secure in expressing my opinion.