Good Afternoon. The issue of protecting the flag is no different than those issues regarding any other constitutionally protected action. We must not permit any erosion of our freedoms, period. I have no warm fuzzy spot for those who spit upon (or worse) the symbol of our great nation, but we must ask: which is more important - the symbol of our nation or those things that define it? General Brady is correct in stating that this is a values issue. It must not become a legal one, if for no other reason than to keep the camel's nose from under the tent. We all know perfectly well what happens when a law is established that infringes, limits, or compromises our rights: there is soon another one. Once the precedent is set, then it becomes established that the question is not "are there boundaries to these rights" but rather "now that it is understood that there should be limits to these rights, just where should we set them?" It is about values, and therein lies the answer.

There is a solution to the flag desecration problem, and it sits in our very hearts. If someone purposefully disgraces the U.S. flag, we must act with utter indignation. Don't serve the person in your restaurant, don't talk with him during lunch at work, let him be ostracized from our lives. Put his picture in the newspaper, let his name be known. This is WE THE PEOPLE. We need to act as a nation, not as a government. We need to act as we live, with our values. How many of us live out our daily lives based on what is or is not legal? No, most of us live by what is right and wrong, by our values. It may very be that there are not enough people who care enough to take a stand. It may also be that there are not enough people willing to turn a customer away, or willing to be known as a patriot, or even as one who stands for something worthwhile. If that is in fact the case, then what good is a 'flag protection law' anyway aside from being a precedent setter? If I see someone burning a flag, I will certainly let him know his worth. I will not beat him, I will not spit upon him. I will not desecrate him in the manner he has to our flag. I will tell him what he is. No profanity, no trash talk, I'll not join him in the gutter. I will not, however, lift him out of that gutter. If he goes into a shop, I will follow him into it and let the proprietor know what sort of person had preceeded me through his door. I will contact my local newspaper, letting them know where I stand on this issue, encouraging them to make that man infamous, letting them know I'll abandon them if they continue to refuse; I will encourage all others to do the same. I WILL NOT BE APATHETIC. I can only hope there will be others of similar heart and mind, for if there are not, then we have already lost.

Clark Pittman
Plant City, Florida.