You're not counter culture. The reason you like the US flag so much as a symbol is because it reflects your values. You are the establishment.

@Miram I usually try to say this in 10 paragraphs but you simplified my feelings on the matter beautifully.

@SwampFlower There is an author called Mustafa Sadeq El Rafi'i from Tunisia who predicted some of the events that followed in society after the 60s such people beginning to worship symbols alone, without respecting their actual meaning. I remember him also saying that a culture of death cannot be a culture of life, that is to say a population that excessively glorifies the actions of the dead will fail to pay the same amount of respect to those who are alive. I agree with him to a great extent. We need to love and acknowledge the living more than allegiance to symbols.