Majority leader urges colleagues to vote for Old Glory’s protection

By Bill Frist
U.S. Senate Majority Leader

Ever since the Boy Scouts first taught me how to care for our flag over 40 years ago, it has always held a special place in my heart. We begin our work day in the U.S. Senate with the Pledge of Allegiance, and I proudly display the flag outside my offices in Washington.
Like over 80 percent of Americans and all 50 of our state legislatures, I believe that the U.S. Constitution should allow the federal government to protect our flag. Since 1989, however, the Supreme Court has overturned 200 years of precedent and struck down all laws that prohibit flag desecration.
Since I first won election to the Senate in 1994, I have supported a constitutional amendment to protect our flag. At every stage, The American Legion has provided invaluable assistance. Despite continual, bipartisan efforts to pass a flag-protection amendment, and support from an overwhelming majority of House and Senate members, the measure has repeatedly failed to get the 67 votes it needs to pass the Senate.
I hope things will change this year.
Before Congress adjourns for its July Fourth recess – most probably during the week of June 26 – I will put before the Senate a one-sentence amendment to the Constitution: “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.” I plan to argue for it on the Senate floor, and I hope my colleagues will vote for it.
Many Americans have come to see the flag as a sacred symbol of our nation and its values. Americans have the right, and sometimes the duty, to protest government actions. Those who dislike American values have the right to express their opinions even when they are offensive. But I do not believe that the right to desecrate a symbol like our flag belongs in the same category.
In conversation with veterans, teachers, police officers, public servants and other Americans from every walk of life, I’ve come to see that the flag is a vitally important symbol with a near-sacred civic meaning. All too many veterans have seen comrades die defending the flag, and nearly all Americans who have traveled abroad know the feelings of pride the flag evokes upon a return home. The flag stands for our nation but also for its values: freedom, justice, independence, equality and, ultimately, the people themselves. An attack on the flag isn’t just an issue of fundamental disagreement with the government but rather an attack on our country and her people.
We should promote all manner of free political discussion, but we cannot allow the gross offense and indecency of flag desecration. People who would otherwise desecrate flags can still say whatever they want, but they should not be allowed to take actions that so offend the vast majority of Americans.
The founders devised a process to amend the Constitution specifically so that the people, through their elected representatives, could bring our country’s most fundamental laws into line with their values. It’s time we act to protect our flag and the values it represents. I hope this June that the Senate will stand up for American values and pass the flag-protection amendment.