Monday, June 27, 2005

Straight Talk With Sam, Honoring Old Glory

I subscribe to my United States Representative Sam Graves (R-MO) E-mail Newsletter, Straight Talk With Sam. This month he talks about an amendment that would prohibit the desecration of the United States Flag. Some people would oppose this for Constitutional reasons. Others say it is just a piece of cloth and it has no meaning. Some of the amendments supporters say the Flag represents our rights and freedoms. I feel the Flag represents our rights and freedoms, but it also represents each and every man and woman that has ever lost their life while serving in the United States military. The desecration of our Flag shows a lack of respect for the price they paid. I want to share the latest Straight Talk With Sam with you.

Honoring Old Glory

On February 23rd, 1945 the Stars and Stripes were famously raised over Iwo Jima by Marines who had fought for four days to reach its peak. Pictures of the flag being raised were sent back to the United States where it helped rally a war-weary America. If pictures are worth a thousand words then this one surely says honor, courage and freedom.

Our flag represents more than colored cloth. The American flag is an enduring symbol of liberty, democracy and justice. It represents the ideals that so many Americans have fought and died defending. On the island of Iwo Jima alone more than 6,000 troops were killed in battle.

On Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a Constitutional Amendment to prohibit the desecration of our flag. Since 1994, there have been over 119 documented cases of flag desecration. Old Glory was meant to be flown proudly, not burned.

I proudly supported that Amendment. Burning the flag is a slap in the face to all that it stands for and to all those who defended it. In order to become law it needs to pass the Senate by a two-thirds vote and then be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

This Fourth of July when you see the flag pass by, I hope that you will stand and honor it. For 229 years it has flown over the land of the free and the home of the brave. We should treat it with the honor and respect it has earned.

Sincerely,
Sam Graves
Member of Congress

Not much there that I would disagree with. Sam calls it Fourth of July and I was taught to call it Independence Day. Like Rep. Graves I hope you will stand and show respect when the Flag passes by, but I would like to take that a little farther. If you have young ones with you this Independence Day that would be the time to teach them what the Flag represents.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic

1 Comments:

Blogger Bart Treuren said...

Well said David. I'm not into iconising inanimate objects but I understand where you're coming from.

It also includes a fair and unbiased discussion on values and ethics (as opposed to dubious "morality"), which is a subject this US administration is doing its utmost to avoid.

1:21 PM  

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