Down in a blaze of Old Glory

You know how we got here. Trump won the presidential election. Those on the left don't like it. So, they are recounting ballots and burning flags.

But is igniting Old Glory really an American right under free speech that any law-abiding citizen should be expressing?

Flag desecration has been lighting up the news lately, literally:

"Communists burn U.S. flag in NYC to protest Trump"

"Hampshire College students burn American flag"

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"Flag burning and protest on Mizzou's campus"

"St. Mary's College of Maryland desecrated a United States Post Office flag"

"Brown University investigating vandalism to American flags"

Last week, the left got all up in arms when President-elect Trump responded to the flag burning by tweeting: "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!"

Yet they overlook the fact that back only a decade ago, in 2005, Sen. Hillary Clinton sponsored a Flag Protection Act, which made flag burning a punishable offense of up to $100,000 fine and one year in jail.

Unfortunately, that attempt to adopt a flag desecration amendment failed in the U.S. Senate by a single vote on June 27, 2006.

The fact is, the majority of Americans want the Stars and Stripes to be protected, much like we protect other hallowed American artifacts and emblems.

Wikipedia rightly summarizes Old Glory's legal protection journey: "The first federal Flag Protection Act was passed by Congress in 1968 in response to protest burnings of the flag at demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Over time, 48 of the 50 U.S. states also enacted similar flag protection laws. All of these statutes were overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States by a 5-4 vote in the case Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989) as unconstitutional restrictions of public expression. Congress responded to the Johnson decision by passing a Flag Protection Act, only to see the Supreme Court reaffirm Johnson by the same 5-4 majority in United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990), declaring that flag burning was constitutionally-protected free speech."

Judge Andrew Napolitano recently asked and answered: "Is flag burning really protected speech?"

Napolitano replied: "The short answer is: Yes. You can burn your flag and I can burn mine, so long as public safety is not impaired by the fires. But you cannot burn my flag against my will, nor can you burn a flag owned by the government."

The judge joins great men like Thomas Jefferson and the late Justice Anthony Scalia in saying: "The First Amendment was written for the very purpose of protecting the expression of hateful ideas, as lovable or popular ideas need no protection."

Napolitano reflected back to a time when he questioned Scalia about this: "At a public forum sponsored by Brooklyn Law School in 2015, I asked him how he would rewrite the flag burning laws, if he could do so. He jumped at the opportunity to say that if he were the king, flag burners would go to jail. Yet, he hastened to remind his audience that he was not the king, that in America we don't have a king, that there is no political orthodoxy here, and that the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, leaves freedom of expression to individual choices, not government mandates."

But then, Napolitano explained the real heart of the matter, at least to me: "The American flag is revered because it is a universally recognizable symbol of the human sacrifice of some for the human freedom of many."

Therein lies the real republic rub!

Chuck Norris provides real solutions to our county's problems and a way to reawaken the American dream in his best-seller, "Black Belt Patriotism."

Myriad of veterans and patriots across our great country like myself liken Old Glory's sacredness to the honor we give someone's sacrifice or headstone, just as Napolitano explained.

Let me repeat his words for emphasis: "The American flag is revered because it is a universally recognizable symbol of human sacrifice of some for the human freedom of many."

Using the same definition and rationale, if we can desecrate Old Glory under the guise of freedom of expression, why not decriminalize headstone defilement or desecration (of soldiers and/or civilians) and treat them the same? If the desecrator is merely expressing their freedom of speech against the deceased, how would trashing an enemy's grave be any different than burning flags?

Of course, I'm being facetious and would never endorse such defilement. A far better idea is that we protect flags like we protect headstones and cemeteries, for the life they embody and represent.

Why would any law-abiding patriotic American want to burn a flag or desecrate a headstone, or endorse a law that said anyone could? As we often told our kids, just because we could doesn't mean we should. That's the difference between liberty and licentiousness.

That is why I say that there is much more at stake and another American tenet being abrogated for the sake of one's freedom to burn a flag. While expressing a First Amendment right, people are simultaneously trampling upon "certain unalienable Rights" endowed by our Creator, "that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," and the respect of that sacred life especially when it was given in the line of duty for everything Old Glory represents.

My younger brother, Wieland, and countless other fallen and wounded warriors gave up their life and limbs while serving our country. Is burning our flags really a right and tradition we want to fight for in expression of gratitude for those who have sacrificed for those Stars and Stripes?

During the week of another Pearl Harbor anniversary (Dec. 7), and commemorating the men and women who served and sacrificed there, let us proudly fly Old Glory in their honor during the day, then light her up at night with appropriate honorable lighting.

And if you're so inclined, then please join my wife, Gena, and I in expressing to your representatives and the future President Trump that it is our hope and prayer that their newly appointed U.S. justices overturn the law that makes it OK to desecrate the American flag, and, at very least, return the issue and opinion to the states.

It's true for every patriot and veteran that I know: We'll go down in a blaze of glory any day for Old Glory.

Chuck Norris provides real solutions to our county's problems and a way to reawaken the American dream in his best-seller, "Black Belt Patriotism."