The American Flag

I was heading to the post office to mail out another resume when I got behind a middle aged woman. Clearly, she was a conservative Republican. She had the Bush/Cheney ’04 sticker (probably on top of her Bush/Cheney ’00 sticker), a yellow “Support Our Troops” ribbon, and a black “POW/MIA” ribbon. That didn’t bother me as much as the two other decorative items she had on her car.

Across from her Bush/Cheney sticker, was another that read, “Don’t Burn My Flag.” Then attached to her rear, passenger side door, was an American flag. Okay, by themselves that shouldn’t have bothered me but together, it got on my nerves.

The “Don’t Burn My Flag” bumper sticker is reference to the ability of the people to burn flags. There used to be state laws that forbade anyone from “desecrating” the flag. Well some idiot decided to burn a flag and was arrested and charged with a crime. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. Johnson, ruled that burning the flag is protected under the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. It expresses an idea. Fine, I buy that argument but I still have no love for people that do such a thing. So if you want, burn the flag. But don’t expect any help from me when a mob decides to bash your skull in.

So clearly, this woman wants the flag to be respected. But, how can she say that when her flag, that she is zipping down the road with, is frayed at the edges and is dull colored? What she is doing to the flag is just as disrespectful, in my opinion, as burning the thing. I would even go as far as to say that she should not be flying the flag from her car anyways.