Maybe that’s why I can’t get into thick libertarianism: it sounds like a totalitarian nightmare to me.

Yes, you got it, it’s just like that, except without the totalitarianism.

Getting criticized over the alleged social connotations of your word choice, in light of recent political history in America, is not “totalitarianism” by any conceivable stretch of the imagination. In real totalitarian states people are jailed or killed over the language that they use. Get a grip.

You may not like a particular practice, but there’s no need to use this kind of melodramatic language to describe it. Particularly not when the melodrama distorts the position that you actually intend to criticize. (There are no left libertarians who believe in government speech restrictions. If someone believes in that, they’re not a left libertarian, but rather something else.)

Several people have claimed that flying another flag above the United States flag is a violation of federal law. Unless you are in the military or another agency of the government, this is not true. The Federal Flag Clode (4 U.S.C. §§ 4-10) is not binding on private citizens or private businesses. It contains no enforcement section and no penalties, and explicitly states that its purpose is to establish a set of VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES: “The following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America is established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations promulgated by one or more executive departments of the Government of the United States.”

As for those who claim that this two-bit thug has some kind of First Amendment right not to be prosecuted need to think harder. Freedom of speech does not protect your right to grab a knife and destroy other people’s private property. If you don’t like how a private business treats the U.S. flag, you should feel free not to patronize that business. But you have absolutely no moral or legal right to deface or steal someone else’s property in order to get your way.