Post Scripts: Long overdue

It is a proposed one-sentence amendment to the Constitution. It reads: "Congress shall have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." After years of delay and obstruction, it now appears Congress will pass this proposed amendment, long overdue.

Why do we need this amendment? In 1989, five of the nine Supreme Court Justices voted to overturn existing laws in 48 states prohibiting the desecration of the American flag. The court ruled that the state of Texas had violated the constitutional rights of a man named Johnson by convicting him of burning the flag.

As the flag burned, Johnson and his friends chanted, "America, the red, white and blue — we spit on you."

The court ruled that flag burning was a form of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. That was a pitiful decision, so patriotic Americans decided that a few words needed to be added to the Constitution to clarify its meaning. It has been disappointing to see how long it has taken Congress to act on this amendment.

The amendment is a single and simple declarative sentence. It is hoped this will protect our flag for all time from being interpreted by ideological, disoriented courts and citizens to mean just the opposite.

Unlike several Supreme Court justices, most Americans understand the flag is not just a piece of cloth any more than the Constitution is just a piece of paper.

Most of us consider a flag burning as a despicable hate crime, rather than the silly notion it is merely an exercise in free speech.

Henry Ward Beecher wrote more than one hundred years ago: "A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation’s flag, sees not only the flag but the nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the nation that sets it forth."

Major General Patrick Brady, a Medal of Honor recipient, spoke some time ago in support of the flag amendment, saying: "I’ve been asked what motivates me in this crusade to protect the flag. It’s the children. No one is ever going to change you or me, or the American Civil Liberties Union, on this issue. But the children can be changed. They are the target. The kind of country we leave our children is not a trivial issue."

Brady added: "Tolerating flag desecration teaches our children disrespect for the values embodied in the flag and disrespect for those who have done so much for those values. Disrespect is the genesis of hatred."

Brady hits the nail on the head. There have been times when I have nearly thrown a book through my TV set when it displays a bunch of bums burning or trashing our flag. We must always defend our colors because our flag represents what we are as a people, and salutes those who have served, bled and died for America.

Our nation must be in trouble when it takes so long to get Congress to stand up and be counted for the flag! Our storied patriots surely must be rolling over in their graves.