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Posted on 11/16/2001 1:26:56 PM PST by ouroboros

I just completed a trip. Everywhere I looked there were U.S. flags - flapping from antennas and flying over junkyards, roadside bars, flea markets, fast-food joints and used-car lots. We are making a mistake with this promiscuous display.

Flags are symbols, which only have the meaning that people invest in them. Our national flag - more properly, our federal flag - is a symbol of our national sovereignty and independence. More than 1 million Americans have died to achieve and to maintain that independence. They did not die so people could use their flag as an advertising and marketing gimmick.

The federal government should by law reserve the design of our flag for its exclusive use. Use of the flag should be forbidden in any commercial manufacture, whether it’s T-shirts or beer mugs or bumper stickers or any of the junk that’s being peddled on television by people taking advantage of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Commercial establishments should be forbidden to fly the flag. It should be flown only by federal institutions and veterans groups. It should be flown by civilians only on special occasions such as Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Flag Day and Veterans Day. And whenever it is flown, it should be handled with care, respect and reverence.

I get angry when I see a U.S. flag faded and torn from having been left out in the weather. The flag, if it is to be flown, should be raised in the morning and lowered at sunset. It should be handled with respect and reverence, never allowed to touch the ground, never allowed to become dirty and faded and torn.

I realize the code of etiquette, first ratified in 1923 and later codified by Congress in 1942, goes far beyond this. It’s just my opinion that Congress ought to revisit the issue and amend the code.

It would help teach Americans about the Constitution if the federal flag were flown only by federal institutions, and state and local institutions flew their respective state flags. The division of powers is one of the key principles that make America unique; it should be respected by everyone. City hall and local schools are not federal institutions and therefore should not fly the federal flag.

We are indeed all Americans, but to be an American is to be loyal to the Constitution and to the government that it created as specified in the Constitution.

The old saying that familiarity breeds contempt is just an accurate observation of human nature. Every time we see our flag flying, it should produce an emotion. But how can it if we see dozens of them flapping around a used-car lot and every other commercial establishment?

Don’t tell me this is patriotism. I’ve been to far too many sparsely attended Memorial Day services to believe that. People who are too busy to honor their country’s dead can hardly be called patriots, nor is displaying the flag only when the country is making war on somebody true patriotism.

Love of country is an ongoing thing that involves respect for its laws, its institutions, its history and traditions, its symbols. It involves being an active citizen who participates in the eternal task of governing, if by nothing else engaging in political debate and voting.

Anybody can fly a flag: a terrorist, a crook, a madman, a drunk, a wife-beater. Ours is a special nation, and the flag should be treated as something special, not as if it were a commercial sports team’s symbol.

Charley Reese makes his case in clear, concise prose. "It's not important to me if people agree or disagree with my point of view," he says. "What I hope my column does is provoke people into thinking about issues, about the world, and their place in it."

Reese, a conservative columnist, does not mince words. In his column, which King Features Syndicate distributes three times a week to more than 150 newspapers, he does not hesitate to take a stand and back it up to the end. In 1985, after being horrified by acts of terrorism around the world, Reese said succinctly: "The wise thing to do with a terrorist is shoot him."

Charley Reese was born Jan. 19, 1937, in Washington, Ga. He was raised there, in eastern Texas and northwest Florida. By the time he was 19, he had worked as a janitor, printer, cub reporter, civil servant and caption writer for Plant News Pictures, Ltd. in London. In 1955, he began his career at the Pensacola News in Florida as a cub reporter. For the next 10 years, he worked at various newspapers, honing his craft by reporting everything from sports to politics. Between 1969 and 1971, he worked as a campaign staffer for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races in several states.

He joined The Orlando Sentinel in 1971 as assistant metro editor. He later became assistant to the publisher, then columnist and editorial board member. He retired from the paper in July 2001. He has traveled to Europe and the Middle East on assignments, all the while maintaining his distinctly American style of journalism.

Reese served two years of active duty in the Army and received an honorary doctorate from Webber College in Florida. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and voted the best columnist in Florida by both the Florida Press Association and the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors.

He is the author of four books, including "Great Gods of the Potomac," and was the ghost writer of "The Eleventh Hour" by Gen. Lewis Walt. An American foundation commissioned Reese to write a study of the Swiss national defense system. Reese has won numerous journalism and civic awards. His column is read by decision makers around the globe. A column he wrote on the House of Hope, a home for abused teens, prompted President Reagan to write a personal check for $1,000 to the organization.

Reese makes his home in Florida. Now divorced, he is the father of three grown children.

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