In Tulsa, the president proclaimed that there should be a law against burning the US flag. In the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of protest against police violence, in the midst of an economic meltdown, he has attempted to elevate a (literally) fringe phenomenon into the spotlight. Hardly anyone burns the American flag, and when it does happen, the act is almost universally condemned. Making it illegal to burn the flag is itself illegal, as the courts have determined repeatedly.
Trump's declaration was pure theater. He was wrapping his divisive rhetoric and his disastrous policies in the flag.
But most Americans understand that the right to burn our flag is an important reason for us to wave it. It stands for freedom of speech. It stands for the civil rights of people of all political and religious persuasions. So, friends, let's out-flag Donald Trump and his flaggy followers. Let's display the flag in front of our houses and at demonstrations and public events. Not to worship it, but to lift it up as the symbol of freedom and democracy for us all. Again, if we don't use it, we'll lose it to people who stand for the very opposite of these principles. When we claim the flag, it ceases to function as the talisman of right-wing extremists. Let's follow Nancy Pelosi's example. Whenever she holds a public event, there is a row of flags behind her. She knows exactly what she is doing!
Years ago, during a previous Republican pretense of trying to make flag-burning illegal, I wrote this spoof:
Flag Abortion: The Debate
Does a flag become a flag after the first trimester – when 17 stars are sewn onto it? Or is a flag a flag at conception, when someone merely considers making one? Does a flag have a right to wave before it is completely sewn together?
At the Crisis Flag Center, which masquerades as a flag-planning clinic, unsuspecting flag-makers are offered complete pre-flagbirth care. But all they get is a 45-minute video of the horrors of flag burning. “See?” the staff says, looking clinical in white smocks as they point at a flag development chart. “Perfectly formed stars and stripes.”
Meanwhile, the pro-choice lobby gathers momentum. “Why,” they argue, “should we bring flags into the world unless we planned them? What is wrong with burning a fetal flag? A flag is not a flag until it can wave on its own.”
Moderates propose compromises. “Flag burning only in cases of flagmaker incapacitation or gross star or stripe deformity,” they say.
The stench of scorched nylon overwhelms such voices. And the Right-to-Flag-Lifers press on, demanding an end to flag burning in all cases.
When they get their way, there will be a constitutional amendment denying the right to think about burning the American flag.