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from the Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2001
This Flag Idea Won’t Fly
Editorial
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United States flag
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 For the flag-wavers
in Congress, these are the best of times and the worst of times. Suddenly,
American flags are no longer the exclusive  province
of fusty
Legionnaires or Boy Scouts. Flags are everywhere and indisputably
cool.
But with flags this season’s
must-have accessory, those who have tried, year after year, to pass
a constitutional amendment barring flag desecration
are in a bit of a quandary.
Flags flutter from cars, in front of houses and in the windows of
burger joints. Flags decorate T-shirts, construction hard hats, even
underwear. Rhinestone flags adorn lapels, there are flag towels, even
flag potpourri holders, and this Christmas, red, white and blue threatens
to replace red and green.
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This outpouring of patriotism and
solidarity
is spontaneous and genuine, not a display ordered up for a politician’s
photo op. But therein lies the challenge for any flag amendment and
one reason why it was always a bad idea. One man’s exuberant
display of patriotism could be another’s flag desecration.
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In July, the House voted in support
of a proposed constitutional flag protection amendment that, if approved
by the Senate and ratified by the states, would give Congress the
“power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag.” The measure,
introduced by Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego),
is the latest in a long line of such silly proposals—all of which
so far have mercifully died in the Senate. Cunningham’s may well
meet the same fate, but if it were to pass, then the fun begins. In an effort to define “desecration,”
Congress’ first source would
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probably be the Federal Flag Code,
an advisory document first adopted in 1923. The code decrees, for
example, that the flag should not fly in inclement
weather, that it should never be used as clothing or as a receptacle
to carry anything. Does that mean Congress intends to tell the construction
worker at ground zero to wipe the flag off his hard hat?
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"This Flag Idea Won't Fly" from the Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by The Times Mirror Company. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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