Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 09/02/2002

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
This past March the Citizens Flag Alliance released the results of a poll on the flag amendment. The results confirmed once again the overwhelming support of the people for the amendment. It also showed the effect of 9-11 on the patriotism of our people.

The overall support for the flag amendment has not changed; indeed it could not get much higher than it has always been. This poll showed that three of four Americans want the amendment and believe that the Senate should debate the flag amendment this session. The people again rejected all the arguments of our opponents. Burning the American flag is not "speech" as defined by our Constitution.

Since 1996, there has been a 23 percent increase among those who regard the flag as a unique symbol, from 67 percent to 90 percent; and 50 percent of our people value the flag more after 9-11. That figure rises to 59 percent of men and a remarkable 70 percent of women ages 18-24.

I think the most noteworthy finding in this poll is the fact that 18- to 24-year-olds now share the same passion for the flag as the "Greatest Generation." And, among the young, women are the most pro-flag of any group.

The tragedy is that 80 percent of the 18 to 24 year olds have not heard about the flag-amendment debate. They are old enough to vote and should be a prime target in education and voting efforts this election.

Ignorance is a form of oppression, and it is a sad fact that over 90 percent of us cannot identify our congressperson with a specific policy. Nine out of 10 Americans have no idea how their senators voted on the flag issue. But when constituents were made aware of their flag vote, our poll showed it had a remarkable impact on how they would vote. If voters associate legalized flag burning with a candidate, many will vote against that candidate. That fact alone could make a dramatic difference in this election.

No senators would vote against the flag if they thought it would cost them an election. Many of them clearly hide behind the ignorance of the people.

Awareness is vital, people need to know that it is legal to burn the flag and that the Senate refuses to vote on it. Senators Daschle and Leahy are holding the flag amendment hostage in the Senate. Despite the fact that it passed in the House, that Senator Leahy's own state became the 50th state to petition for flag protection, and there are more than 60 votes in the Senate, these men refuse to allow their colleagues their free-speech right to vote on the flag amendment. Those who refuse to do the will of the people should feel the wrath of the people, and Senators Daschle and Leahy fear a vote would expose their position and unleash the wrath of the people this election.

This election is vital, not only for the flag but for American values. Once again, an out-of-control judiciary is attacking our values and our Constitution. Their latest outrages declare the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional and virtual child pornography to be constitutional. James Madison said, "It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free." Anyone who says burning the American flag and child pornography are speech but the Pledge is not, is not properly instructing our children. We need to elect candidates who will not cower to the courts, who will stop this assault on our values.

The final wars in this battle for our values will be fought by our children and grandchildren. We must properly arm them. One way is through the flag, the Pledge and the Constitution, the trinity of patriotism. Symbol is from a Greek word meaning a half token which when united with its other half identified the owner. It is meant to recognize something above and beyond itself. The other half token of the flag is the Constitution, above and beyond any court and all other political documents; and we the people are the owner, not the courts.

When you burn the flag, you burn the Constitution. We must teach our children the immortal immutable truths of our Constitution and there is no better way to do this than through the flag and the Pledge.

Thomas Jefferson said, "Cherish therefore the spirit of the people and keep alive their attention ... reclaim them by enlightening them." September the 11th showed us the spirit and we do cherish it, but now we need to awaken their attention and reclaim our flag by enlightening the people on how their candidates voted or will vote on their right to protect Old Glory.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, U.S. Army, Retired
Board Chairman, Citizens Flag Alliance

Dear distinguished Congressional Medal of Honor recipient,
In Justice Stevens' dissenting view in Texas v. Johnson (491 U.S. 397, 1989), he writes: “ . . . sanctioning the public desecration of the flag will tarnish its value -- both for those who cherish the ideas for which it waves and for those who desire to don the roles of martyrdom by burning it. That tarnish is not justified by the trivial burden on free expression occasioned by requiring that an available, alternative mode of expression -- including uttering the words critical of the flag (see Street v. New York) -- be employed."

As a blinded Vietnam veteran, I can only hear Old Glory whispering in the wind as it proudly waves in front of my home. In my mind's eye I can still visualize our sacred symbol covering coffins of fellow Vietnam veterans and being ceremoniously handed to their grieving loved ones as the bugle echoes "Taps". And, in my heart, I know this flag unifies our country and symbolizes the blood that runs through the veins of our nation.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

BAVF Home | Who We Are | Sgt. Shaft | Flag Week | Links | Financials | Search | Contact BAVF

BAVF - P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900

Copyright BAVF 2002