Wednesday, June 14, is Flag Day. It’s the day set apart in particular for Americans everywhere to fly Old Glory loud and proud.
But the truth is, there has never been more opposition to the American flag than there is today.
One more example came in May, when a Kentucky memorial honoring fallen police officers was vandalized with American flag burnings.
Fox News reported, “It appeared two American flags were burned in the eternal flame that sits atop the memorial in Jefferson Square Park, not far from the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections building.”
Desecrating Old Glory reaches an all-time sickening low when it’s in front of a memorial honoring men and women in blue who were killed in the line of duty.
All in the name of free speech?
Is igniting the Stars and Stripes really “an American right under free speech” that any grateful law-abiding citizen should be expressing?
A few years ago, the Left got all up in arms when President Trump responded to a 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 overlooked the fact that a decade earlier, then 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 still 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.”
In 2016, Judge Andrew Napolitano 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 Antonin Scalia in saying: “The First Amendment was written for the very purpose of protecting the expression of hateful ideas, as loveable 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!
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 his 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 and sacrifice 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 growing up, just because we could doesn’t mean we should. That’s the difference between liberty and licentiousness.
There is another American tenet being abrogated for the sake of one’s freedom to burn or desecrate the U.S. 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?
In commemorating Flag Day this week, it’s a perfect time to recall and pass along a little of Old Glory’s history to your posterity.
History.com documents it well:
When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, the colonists weren’t fighting united under a single flag. Instead, most regiments participating in the war for independence against the British fought under their own flags. In June of 1775, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to create the Continental Army – a unified colonial fighting force – with the hopes of more organized battle against its colonial oppressors. This led to the creation of what was, essentially, the first “American” flag, the Continental Colors.
For some, this flag, which was comprised of 13 red and white alternating stripes and a Union Jack in the corner, was too similar to that of the British. George Washington soon realized that flying a flag that was even remotely close to the British flag was not a great confidence-builder for the revolutionary effort, so he turned his efforts towards creating a new symbol of freedom for the soon-to-be fledgling nation.
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress took a break from writing the Articles of Confederation and passed a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
Over 100 years later, in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson marked the anniversary of that decree by officially establishing June 14 as Flag Day. As you celebrate the Stars and Stripes, share with your family these 13 fascinating facts about its creation and history.
President Theodore Roosevelt said it best in 1907 when speaking to immigrants: “There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag.”
I also agree wholeheartedly with U.S. Army Specialist Jen Elliot, an injured veteran from the war in Afghanistan who was told in 2013 she couldn’t fly an American flag at her apartment in Sacramento, California. She retorted, “We live in America. Why shouldn’t we fly our flag proudly?”
And what about those who oppose Old Glory’s pledging or posting?
Take your orders and never forget the words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur: “I see that the old flagpole still stands. Have our troops hoist the colors to its peak, and let no enemy ever haul them down.”
(I would encourage all Americans to check out and patron the variety of James Staake’s patriotic flags and works of art at his online store, Your American Flag Store –youramericanflag.com).
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