Giving ‘rally around the flag’ new meaning

June 9, 2005

There’s a fair bit of disarray among Republicans in Washington right now. They’re not all on the same page on a variety of legislative goals, including Social Security privatization, stem-cell research, an energy bill, the Patriot Act, and immigration, among others.

It seems the GOP caucus needs something to get back on track, a priority they can agree on that can also draw attention away from their other problems.

Call me crazy, but I have a hunch this solution may soon be a flag-burning amendment.

It didn’t generate much in the way of media attention, but the House Judiciary Committee easily approved a constitutional amendment two weeks ago that would “prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.” With committee support, it can be brough to the floor at any time.

The House measure, H.J.RES.10, as of yesterday, has 151 co-sponsors. A companion measure in the Senate. S.J.RES.12, is up to 53 co-sponsors.

What better way to get away from an ethics fiasco and a Social Security scheme no one likes than literally rallying around the flag? It sounds like a tack from page 1 of the GOP playbook.

The amendment has passed the House five times over the last 15 years, but fallen short in the Senate every time, sometimes by the narrowest of margins.

Now, however, the GOP majority has 55 members. And a war to exploit. And a desperate desire to change the subject away from what’s been going in Congress lately. And a president who’ll endorse the measure enthusiastically.

One advocacy group that works on this issue (from a pro-amendment perspective) claims that there are 65 senators who are on record supporting the amendment. For passage, they’ll need 67.

Something to keep an eye on.

The approved method of getting rid of a worn out or dirty flag…
…Burn It. Ask a boy scout sometime.

So obviously burning has nothing to do with desecrating a flag. So does flag desecration depend on the burner’s intent? Say, to make a political statement?

If so, why can’t they accept that burning a flag is covered by the first amendment?

Gah! So dumb.

  • I generally don’t have any feelings about this issue one way or the other, but if most of our flags are made in China it sorts of dilutes the symbolism of it. In fact I might be in favor of burning everything I owned that came from China but I wouldn’t have very many possessions left.

  • POCATELLO – Boy Scout Troop 315 will conduct a flag burning ceremony this Saturday at 1 p.m.

    Betty Kemmerer said the ceremony will be at the park off Pocatello Creek Road near the Scout office, which is at 2306 Pocatello Creek Rd. Anyone who has a flag in bad condition is welcome to attend.

    “If you haven’t seen this ceremony, it is well worth it to be on hand,” she said.

  • I swear, The first thing I will do if a flag burning amendment becomes law is that I will burn a flag on the steps of the state capitol. I haven’t decided whether to be respectful about it, but it will happen.

  • Can we ban people having flags on their SUVs? I don’t mean stickers, I mean actual flags. At least where I live that’s not uncommon. At least once a week I see a flag that’s fallen off into the road, turning black, covered in oil and grunge.

  • Oh please do, GOP, please, please, please….

    Washington Post/ABC News Poll:

    “Do you feel Bush and the Republican leaders in Congress are making good progress on solving the nation’s problems or not?”

    Making Progress: 37%, Not Making Progress: 61%

    Let’s see if they can push it below 30%?

  • There’s total idiocy about this matter. What about a “flag” that has, oh, 14 stripes and 49 stars. That’s never been an official ensign of the USA, so that’s okay to desecrate, right? How about I don’t burn a real flag, but take a picture of it and project the picture on to a pile of cattle dung? Is that “desecration”? How about those little flags you put on hamburgers at the Fourth of July? Will grandma be pitched into the slammer if she’s insufficiently respectful clearing the table?

    These guys will fuck the Constitution and common sense raw for nationalist power. This is a bit like uniforms and marches in 1920s Europe. This is our version.

  • I’m beginning to think the only reason anyone would want to waste their time on legislation like this is because it beats working. Republicans are procrastinating on having to solve real, substantative issues like the national debt, crumbling infrastructure and Social Security solvency. Someone wrote that Bush’s plan for not rankling the voters is to never ask them to do anything hard or painful. I’m beginning to realize what the Republican Congressional agenda is: wait for the Democrats to solve the problems that require the U.S. public to sacrifice anything. That way the Republicans look like the good guys and sets up the Dems to look like tax-crazy legislators.

  • I meant what I said about legislation like this being our version of ultra-nationalist (fascist) public rituals of the 1920s and, of course, 1930s. Goose-stepping in uniform while carrying torches toward the Leader might bear too bald a comparison to Leni Reifenstahl, not to mention be too small a happening to really count, nationwide. (Although not locally, because those Bush Cheney ’04 campaign rallies came close to “Triumph of the Will.”) This really is our worship of national symbols, our weeping tribute to “the nation.” I have no doubt someone teary-eyed congressman will demand passage of this bill because we’re at war, and we just can’t show weakness in the face of Osama bin Saddam. If Rove can get that volk-think going, he can keep attention off his stripping the electorate bare of their last dollar.

  • Terrorist strike. Or terrorist scare. Like the story we heard yesterday on AAR, that was the FBI jumping up and down and hollering about an Al Qaeda cell in Lodi, of all places. FEAR FEAR FEAR!! TERROR TERROR TERROR! That is how the Repugs will escape their horrific poll numbers.

    Mark my words. The worse their polls get, the greater the threat of the suspension of the Constitution and a one-party police state being instituted.

  • Maybe all of us who both love our country and respect the first amendment ought to half burn a flag and fly it on our cars. That way we could be celebrating our first amendment rights patriotically. Only thing is, if people really started to do that there’d undoubtedly be stories of shootings and car rammings and people being beaten up by Bible-thumpin’ nationalists. Worse than having a Kerry sticker on your car.

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