I have been reading Bernard von Bothmer’s Framing the Sixties for a book review. The book is about the way our perceptions of the decade of the sixties have been molded by presidential politics. Bothmer brings a leftward slant to the book, but that does not keep it from being interesting. It just causes me to do a lot of scribbling in the margins.

In any case, I ran across a passage (pp 98-99) where GHW Bush was asked if his visits to a flag factory in the 1988 campaign had been a political act, as if it had been meant to show that Democrats did not respect the flag, but Republicans did. I put this question in the category of assinine. As far as it goes every public act is a political one – especially when that person is a candidate on the campaign trail. That likely was the candidate’s intention! But why not? Isn’t that what campaigning is all about? – revealing the differences between the candidates.

In fact it would only highlight the other candidates lack of respect for the American flag, if he did not show respect for it. Besides, there is nothing wrong with public political acts when they are reflective of the truth and remain within civilized bounds.

I should point out here that it is my personal opinion that flag burning should not be illegal, as long as the flag is owned by the burner. It is yet another public political act.