Congress, Hard At Work, Passes Tough Flag Desecration Legislation

Is this "desecration?"

Congress, Hard At Work, Passes Tough Flag Desecration Legislation -- Oh, Brother!

Friday, June 13th, 1997 -- Maybe it's because I attended college in the sixties and seventies. Maybe it's because I think the House of Representatives ought to be spending its time doing something important. It seems to me that flag desecration is not a top priority for a Congress that can't even pass a budget bill.

Yesterday, the House, in a 310-114 vote, actually approved a constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the American flag. I guess it's okay to burn Canadian flags or French ones. Of course, this is a Republican-backed move. We all know that Democrats are flag-burning hippie peace queers. But more than 100 Democrats signed on too, despite a Supreme Court decision in 1989 that struck state laws against messing with the flag on the basis of freedom of speech.

It's one thing for a not-so-wise House member to vote aye on a constitutional amendment, but the Senate, thank the Lord, may be a tougher battle ground to okay this gibberish. The fight in the Senate is led by none other than Orrin Hatch of Utah -- need I say more?

If, by some ridiculous serendipity the amendment is approved by the Senate, the matter moves to the states when 38 of 50 must ratify it. The President doesn't need to sign the amendment. You might think that this could never happen, but -- surprise! -- 48 states, with the exception of Vermont, have already passed legislative resolutions calling for such an amendment.

The worrisome aspect of this amendment is just what will be considered "desecration?" Will Ralph Lauren end up in jail for featuring his American flag logo on underwear and sweat shirts? What about flag coffee cups, flag decals, and those giant flags that used-car lots love flying over their defective cars? Well, that's up to the legal eagles who'll write the law once the amendment passes -- if it does.

I have seriously little stake in this issue. I was a cub scout and a sea scout. I fly a flag every day off my terrace facing Manhattan. I feel pangs when the flag touches the ground. I held my father's veteran's flag on my lap at his funeral. I even bought a new thirty-foot-high flagpole to fly the stars and stripes over my beach stairs and make it easier to find my house from my yet-to-be-purchased seagoing kayak. I don't want anyone desecrating my flag.

On the other hand, I remember my collegiate protestor buddies burning the flag in an exasperated effort to stop the carnage of American boys in Southeast Asia. I remember the photos in Time and Life of those flag-burnings. I thought some of those kids -- now mostly involved in increasing the size of their IRAs and 401(k)s -- looked pretty damn heroic burning those flags and knowing they would go to jail for it.

But the thing I remember most was the pride I had in my country and in the Supreme Court for scolding and slapping the hands of overzealous prosecutors who jailed those kids who, from sheer frustration, grabbed the only symbol this nation holds dear -- to try to get someone's, anyone's, attention.

It strikes me as hypocritical to amend the constitution to deny harmless protest in a nation that went to war with the British and burned their flag -- a thousand times -- in the process.

The fundamental basis of our constitution is freedom, including freedom to burn, tear and even spit on icons that celebrate it. I might not participate in a flag burning, but I want to reserve my right to do so if things get bad enough… again.