European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 letter the stars and stripes a readers support ban on Flag i am having difficulty believing that our Congress is having a hard time passing an amendment that would protect our country s Flag. I am normally a passive person when it comes to politics but 1 can to help but become ill every time i see a Flag bum on television. Its ironic that men have died to protect the Flag and the rights for which it stands and people try and demonstrate these rights by burning the of lifer my father is a deceased Veteran who had 25 years of service defending the Flag of the United states. My husband continues to serve the United states. I can Only say that i am glad that my father is dead. He could never have lived and watched what our country is becoming. .1 love my country and i can to understand Why pc pie would Ever want to deface any Emblem that stands for the strength and Honor of our country. I feel to allow the Public destruction of this Flag our Flag is to begin the destruction of american morale. Americans have too Long rallied around the american Flag to allow it to be destroyed. _ i am proud to say i am an army brat and an army wife. Because of men like my father and my husband i am proud to say that 1 am an american and that move my country with All my heart. I feel that we As americans should also exercise our rights and let the men in Washington hear us. We have to rally to the defense of our Flag. We cannot with Clear conscience sit Back and allow the free destruction of our Flag. A a Pam Hall Wertheim West Germany to quote former president Woodrow Wilson Quot this Flag a he said a which we Honor and under which we serve is the Emblem of Unity our Power our thought and purpose As a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation to generation. The Choice is to what end what purpose does it serve for . Citizens to bum the Flag and Call it free speech where did they get that out of the Constitution when we obscure this Emblem of Unity americans character is gone forever. Isnit it ironic that today a issues such As Flag burning Are Cali sing civil War within the Laws dividing us and our purpose As a Union. Its Only cloth my fellow citizens however like Freedom its tangible a a sgt. Larry c. Daugherty Pitburg a West Germany i question the people who say it is a form of protest that we must Honor and protect. If you bum the american Flag what Are you protesting Are you protesting against America if so you must be against Freedom Ana democracy. If that is the Case you Are talking out of both sides of your Mouth. On the one hand you protest it on the other hand you demand it. _ Are you protesting americans leadership the Flag is the Symbol of our country and the ideals it represents. It is not a Symbol of our leadership at any Given time. If arc unhappy with our elected president or other Freedom to convince others that officials use your change is needed. If the truth be known those who support or engage in these activities Are trying to impress us with their liberalism. The fact that All of this gets them in the papers and on television is also a motivator even monkeys will Ham it up for the camera. What bothers me above All else is that they Dishonour All who have Given their lives for the things America stands for. It is hard to accept that those lives were Given so that these blasphemous phonies could have the Freedom to continue to be foolish a Gary Altpeter Rodenbach West Germany i would never bum our Flag As a protest against anything and the thought of people doing it really hurts me. On the other hand i believe in our privilege of Freedom of speech. I think it is important that we get allowed As citizens of a democracy to voice our displeasure with our government. However peacefully protesting is one thing burning the Symbol of the very Freedom these people seem to take for granted is quite another. And what for of All the times in be heard on the news about people burning flags in protest in be never Learned what they Are protesting about what Point can they a be making How can they gain Public sympathy or their cause if the Public is immediately enraged at their method of protest or Are they just burning the Flag to see How far their Freedom of speech will be protected. We take so lightly our freedoms. They Are precious. What signals Are we sending the rest of the world if we have so Little regard for the one most important Symbol of our country our stars and stripes. My 7-year-old daughter was watching the news with me and asked if burning the Flag was wrong Quot. Because she said Quot we get to carry the lag in school if our class does really How can she remain proud of her Flag of her country if she knows that anyone who wants to can profane our Flag and if she loses that Pride just because a few people have lost theirs what Good will it do a Shery l Kauspedas Raf Mildenhall England. A John e. Strobbe mayor of Romeoville 111., clutches an american Flag. The Village trustees recently passed a Resolution that would make anyone assaulting a Flag Bumer subject to a $1 Fine. Strobbe said when he was Young Quot if someone burned the Flag you beat the hell out of the Flag is not free speech a it is an act an insulting act an act that inevitably incites to violence. That alone is reason enough to prohibit it by Law. Amending the Constitution to protect the Flag is Bela Boring the obvious. It puts All the Noble ideals embodied in the declaration of Independence and the Constitution the ideals that have inspired americans for 200 years up to ridicule by adding a and please done to spit on the Flag. Let the dissenters Roar their discontent All Day Jong in any words they choose and take their chances with the reaction of the audience. That a free speech. But do not allow them to physically desecrate the Flag. Not just because people a who ultimately make the Law a will not stand for it. But because when you permit a Symbol to be degraded it ceases to be a Symbol. It takes great symbols to organize the minds and will of a free people and we need our symbols now As never before. A Grace Norris ,. Torrejon a Spain. I was bom in a foreign land and i came to America pursuing that dream of Freedom. I became an american Soldier so i could go to a foreign land carrying that piece of cloth the Flag so the poor the needy and the oppressed could be freed and also to keep the dream alive so others can enjoy happiness. I watch with distress As some people desecrate this piece of Fine cloth and bum it in its Homeland where god provided us with this gift so we could keep the dream alive. Before you bum that Fine cloth shoot me Down. May my remains be allowed to be covered with the american lag so i can live with those who died with dignity a because i believe in the dreams of sgt. Victor j. Elias Knie Lingen West Germany with growing amazement and disgust i have been watching the nightly news broadcasts of the past few months where burners of the american Flag and creators of obscene Art sanctimonious by claim their right under the first amendment to Freedom of speech and expression. In my opinion this is an insult to our Constitution and the men who drafted it which cannot go unanswered. The first amendment a Cornerstone of american democracy guarantees the right to freely express in speech or writing ones feelings and positions political and non political without fear of Legal reprisal. It was not intended As carte Blanche for miscreants and Quot artists to produce any kind of artistically dubious but definitely disgusting junk they can think of. Far from demonstrating Freedom of speech it throws a Shadow on the search for Freedom and democracy of people All Over the world obscenity apathy drugs and violence Are not the afflictions of american society but Mere symptoms of a deeper disease the general feeling that one can do absolutely any thing one pleases regardless of the feelings loyalties standards or needs of others. This attitude is leading Macri Ca downhill and holding her Back in a world racing toward the future and it has got to Stop soon. A Ben Myers Munich West Germany. I feared that in an election year and Given the emotion this topic raises an anti Flag burning amendment would sail through Congress. That would be tragic. I say tragic because such an amendment will bastardized and desecrate our country a soul a the Constitution and Bill of rights. A. /. We Are often a passionate nation. We react with our hearts to things that anger and offend Lis and often our reaction is to attempt to suppress that which offends us. The government claims there is a National consensus to ban Flag desecration. The majority of the people they say want this form of expression suppressed. Despite this consensus the people Are wrong. The Constitution exists to protect the nation from just such a wrongful consensus which is Why the supreme court struck Down the 1989 Law. Popular As a ban May be it is against the Freedom promised by the first amendment to legislate one. The president Congress and the people have forgotten that the Flag is a Symbol a a cherished Symbol but still Only a Symbol. Our country does not live or die by the Flag. Its soul is something less tangible but far More valuable. As a Soldier i took an oath. This oath is simple and Clear and makes no Bones about what the essence of the nation is. I swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United states against All enemies foreign and Domestic and that i will Bear True Faith and allegiance to the same. The president takes a very simlar oath. We pledged allegiance to the Constitution not the Flag. I Salute and Honor the Flag but i never forgot that i am really saluting what it represents a the United states and the United states is nothing without its Constitution. I have been silent in the past As i never thought this would become a serious Issue. I must speak now because the Constitution i have pledged to defend is threatened from within. I say this if we quell dissent because it offends us we take one step Back from our greatest virtue As a nation. Free speech Means hearing words we abhor spoken freely. It Means nazis marching in Skokie and klansmen March ing in Alabama. And it Means seeing some nut Burn the Flag. When we see something like this we must Stop ourselves from repressing it. If we see the things we done to want to see and hear the words we hate to hear we prove that our fathers were right when they drafted the Constitution and that indeed this is the greatest nation in the world. �?2nd it. Mathias j. Perez Baum older West Germany i consider myself to be just As patriotic As anyone else in America and Flag buying offends me greatly but i have to say that those who would Amend the Constitution to ban it Are wrong. Burning the Flag although inappropriate and highly offensive is a form of idea expression. This country and the first amendment were founded on the principle of Freedom of expression of ideas. Just because we find something offensive does no to give us the right to prohibit it. I find the music group new kids on the Block offensive but in a sure millions of teenage girls around the world would want to Lynch me if 1 even suggested Banning them. We cart play around with the first amendment or any other part of the Bill of rights because those Are what truly makes America a free country. To those who would argue about Quot the greater Good that a Flag buying prohibition in the Constitution would provide 1 strongly uie you to read Quot the r document y Irving Wallace. It May Only be fiction but its a prime example of what could happen if we Start fooling around with the Bill of rights. A name and location withheld As a member of the armed services stationed far from Home putting in those Long hours in defense of our country there is no love lost Between myself and someone who would publicly Burn one of the most prominent symbols of All that 1 am fighting for. However i agree wholly with Justice William j. Brennan a opinion that the Freedom of expression is a a bed Rock constitutional guarantee. If we can to ensure that these rights Are Here for everyone today How can we be sure that those same rights will be there for ourselves tomorrow a airman 1st class Richard l. Geedey a Aschheim West Germany if burning the american Flag were made illegal the greatest irony would be that the government of the United slates would be denying americans a right of expression that every other citizen in the world would possess freely. In fact it is non americans who Are the most enthusiastic burners of the american Flag one reason being continued on Page 11
