Old Glory Doesn’t Need Congressional Protection
Lawmakers Tinker with Constitution for Political Gain

When I was a fifth and sixth grader at Iroquois Point Elementary School, I was part of an elite squad of public servants known as “the JPOs.”

The initials stood for Junior Police Officer, although it was not unusual for some of the wise guys in the fourth grade to call us “Jet Propelled Oysters”…but only behind our backs.

As a JPO, my primary duties included getting to school early, donning a yellow hardhat and bright orange vest, and flashing a stop sign in front of the school to make sure that motorists and pedestrians obeyed our firm yet fair crosswalk laws.

We never lost a pedestrian on my watch, a statistic I proudly place on my resumé to this day.

Our secondary duty was to raise and lower the American flag on the giant silver pole that stood outside the main entrance to our school. We learned how to fold the flag into a tight blue triangle before putting it to bed each afternoon in its special wooden cubbyhole in the principal’s office.

In addition to the traditional folding technique, we JPOs learned all about proper flag etiquette and were dutifully warned not to ever let Old Glory touch the ground. If that happened, the flag would have to be destroyed by fire. We had a few precarious moments in the wind and rain but we never dropped a flag on my watch. You can check my resumé.

Unfortunately, ex-presidents did not fare as well on my watch and when Dwight D. Eisenhower passed away, we learned the significance of somberly raising the flag to half-mast to inform all of the elementary schoolers that our country was in mourning.

My love for our flag continues to this day and I especially like the rare 49-star version. Used for only a year, it marks the period of time after Alaska was admitted as a state and before Hawaii made the team. It was the flag that was flying when I was born and it features seven offset rows of seven stars each—a mathematical and patriotic gem of a flag.

Last Wednesday (June 22), the House of Representatives in Washington approved a constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to ban desecration of the American flag. The amendment passed by a 286-130 vote and stands a good chance of being passed by the Senate.

There is so much wrong with this Congressional decision that I scarcely know where to begin.

First off, the proposed ban on desecration is clearly meant to prevent protestors from burning the American flag. The only time I have ever seen that done is on news broadcasts from countries where the protestors are clearly outside our jurisdiction. So Old Glory gets no help there.

Secondly, desecration is in many ways in the eye of the beholder. You may think that an overweight guy in a stars and stripes Speedo bathing suit is being patriotic while I might think it falls under the realm of desecrating the flag. Do we send Speedo boy to jail or salute his swimwear? Some people find all of the American flag decals that popped up on everything right after 9-11 and are now fading and peeling a form of desecration. Some people think that American flags made in third world countries by oppressed and underpaid textile workers to be a form of desecration. Who gets to decide?

Thirdly, it sounds a lot like the government telling people what they can and can’t do with their own property. Right now there is a shift in the eminent domain laws in our country that are displacing people from their homes not because of bridge or road construction but because private land developers want the property for hotels, malls and condos. These private developers are convincing state and local governments to toss out longtime residents and bulldoze their homes in the name of “public good.” Such cases are pending in Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states right now. Give them an inch…

Fourthly, I can’t believe that Congress doesn’t have more pressing business than to pass a constitutional amendment on flag burning. We have urgent issues such as health care costs, education, two overseas military campaigns, a looming pension fund scandal, and the environment that we need our leaders to thoughtfully consider. Instead, they are playing a game of political chicken with each other to determine who is more patriotic.

I have never seen an American burn an American flag in protest, but if I did, I guarantee you that that person would have my attention. I would be compelled to find out why he or she felt so strongly about an issue that they would insult their own countrymen just to make a point. I would wonder why someone was exercising his First Amendment rights in such an extreme manner. But I wouldn’t question his right to do so.

In disagreeing with the majority of his colleagues, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, said it best when he said, “If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents.”

Our forefathers gave the Constitution a lot of thought before they put ink to parchment. I would expect no less from our current president and his loyal followers in Congress.

As far as changing the Constitution goes, our leaders in Washington should follow the old maxim: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”