 ljsdesign says: The first Flag Code came during a time of similar national upheaval. In 1942, Congress passed the first resolution to endorse flag etiquette, including the proper way to fold, display and dispose of the flag. Massachusetts entered the debate in 1970, when Leominister teenager Valerie Goguen was sentenced to six months in jail for using an American flag patch on a pair of jeans. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in the 1974 case Smith v. Goguen. Goguen still lives in Leominster, and is still adamant that the case is about love for the flag. I don't agree with the idea of reciting the code. It has 67 paragraphs, 116 sentences and 2,565 words, and occupies 5 pages of single-spaced text. That's a long recitation. It would be enough, I think, to study it (as a kid, I was in the Scouts, and we were required to do that), and, maybe, be able to pass a quiz based on its provisions. I think some of the provisions, particularly those in Sec. 4, deserve to be more widely known (Subsection 4(i) technically makes postage stamps imprinted with the flag in violation of the Code, for instance - and burning is the recommended method of disposal). A constantly updated copy of the code is posted at the [url=http://www4.law.corne... It is ridiculous to even have a "pledge of allegiance...to the flag", when all elected officials pledge in their Oath of Office to defend the Constitution (our rights vs. government power), which they clearly trample and legislate contrary to. Symbols can change in meaning, Constitutions must be openly amended. People should consider what the pledge is really all about...i.e. arbitrary government in a mere symbol. I have no problem with pledging to the ideals. I don't think children should be doing a ritualistic pledge when they have no idea or capacity to understand or make a pledge. One should swear allegiance not as a matter of route but as a personal and open acknowledgment of what one is dedicating him or herself too. |
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