Flags and flag desecration

For those of you with kids in public schools, you already know that this fall semester brought with it a new unfunded mandate to classrooms everywhere: reciting the pledge of allegiance. As with most ill-conceived legislative action, this half-baked law comes with a swirl of unintended consquences, some of which are reported in today's News and Observer story by Todd Silberman.

A new state law requiring schools to schedule time each day for students to recite the pledge has revived a tradition right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. But some schools are scrambling to complete that picture by finding flags for every classroom, and some students are questioning the value of a daily repetition as an act of patriotism. Teachers in some schools were unprepared for the change and unsure of what directions to give students.

Driven by my strong distaste for legislating patriotism. I've written to nearly every NC House member, pleading with them to resist their patriotic pandering with a new law that would require schools to "offer" the Pledge of Allegiance every day. Many have written back, some agreeing, and most disagreeing with my position. Today I heard from Grier Martin:

I ended up voting for this bill. It was a feel good bill, but I can't say I feel too good after the vote. The reasons you served in the armed forces certainly parallel my reasons for serving. What enabled me to support this bill was the clause that schools "shall not compel any person to stand, salute the flag, or recite the Pledge of Allegiance".

Freedom of expression in America was preserved by the slimmest of margins yesterday when the US Senate failed to pass an amendment to the US Consitution that would prohibit desecration of the American flag. I condemn both Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, two chickenhawk Senators who voted against the Constitution in favor of election-year patriotic pandering. Six months ago, I wrote a column for the Chapel Hill News on the subject. It seems fitting to repost it today.

CHAPEL HILL - In a move that can only be described as pandering to American pseudo-patriots, the US Senate, led by Chickenhawk Richard Burr, is once again taking up a bill that will make desecration of the American flag unconsitutional. The story in USA Today, reports the sorry turn of events.

"It's scary close," said Terri Schroeder of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the amendment. "People think it's something that's never going to happen. ... The reality is we're very close to losing this battle."