Articles Index

What is Desecration? Is the American Flag a Sacred Object?
It's common to find politicians - both Democrats and Republicans - exploiting people's feelings about the American flag by advocating laws that would ban burning the flag. Instead of just limiting their attacks on flag burning, which is already invalid, many politicians go further and attack 'desecration' of the flag generally. Laws against desecrating the flag are meaningless, though, unless it's clear what we mean by 'desecration' in the first place.

What is a Flag? What is the American Flag?
If laws against burning or desecrating an American flag are to have any value, it must be clear to everyone just what is meant by an 'American flag' to begin with. If it's not clear, the laws will be struck down as unconstitutionally vague. Intuitively, it might seem obvious what an American flag is supposed to be, but a closer examination of the issue reveals that it's not so obvious and clear after all.

Flag Desecration: The Issue is Not the Issue
One of the more enduring slogans from the 1960s counter-culture movement was that 'The Issue Is Not the Issue.' What this means is that what was at stake was not any particular policy; instead, the real issue was the entire social structure of assumptions and authority. Whatever the immediate issue may have been, it merely a symptom of a larger issue, and that larger issue was the real goal of protest.

Playing Politics With the American Flag
Republicans regularly introduce proposals to amend the Constitution to permit government bans on flag burning or desecration. In the past, they introduced laws to ban flag burning, but the laws were always struck down as unconstitutional. These measures are intended as political footballs: almost always introduced in election years, they exist to give Republicans an easy way to attack the patriotism of Democrats who refuse to undermine freedom of speech.

Meaning of the American Flag
One vitally important issue in the debate over burning and desecrating the American flag tends to be ignored: what exactly does the American flag mean and why? The American flag is a symbol, which is to say that it represents America itself. Therefore, the question of what the American flag means is necessarily a question about what America means and what it stands for.

Flag Desecration Amendment: It's Just the Beginning
Almost like clockwork, conservatives regularly attempt to enact a constitutional amendment that would permit them to ban flag burning and various forms of flag 'desecration.' They still don't accept the fact that such activity is protected free speech, so they want to single out this sort of speech for special political regulation. If successful, though, it will just be the beginning

Is Flag Burning a Problem? What Are People Worried About?
How big of a problem is flag burning such that a Constitutional amendment is required to prohibit it? Given how strong people's emotions seem to run when this issue comes up, you might think that this is one of the most pressing matters facing America. The truth, though, is that bans on flag burning and desecration are a solution in search of a problem: flag burning almost never occurs, and when it does, the only harm it causes is to the sensibilities of the very few people who see it.

Free Expression as Political Subversion
Expression and speech are treated differently in America. People think we have freedom of speech and assume we also have freedom of expression. Neither is true - free speech exists in theory but is often not honored in the breach. Freedom of expression can be little more than a pipe dream because it is strictly limited by what authorities deem appropriate.

Flag Fetishism & the Cult of the Flag
Americans' obsession with the American flag isn't just an example of patriotism or nationalism - it's an example of fetishism. Some Americans, at least, have developed a cult around their flag in which that flag is treated almost as it if had supernatural powers, and certainly as if it were more than merely a symbol of America. The flag is treated as if it were America itself - as if it were a substitute for America, such that how you treat it were how you treat America.

Expression vs. Speech, Flag Burning vs. Flag Waving
Despite a spate of court decisions against them, some people continue to insist that there is no speech interest in flag burning, and therefore flag burning should not be protected by the First Amendment. One has to wonder, then, whether something like flag waving is a speech act? If flag burning doesn't qualify as speech, then flag waving can't; if flag waving is protected as free speech, then flag burning should be as well.

Commercial Exploitation of the Flag
There is a two-sided and important relationship between efforts to ban flag burning or flag desecration and the use of the flag in advertisements, commercials, and other business contexts. Hardly anyone today is aware of this relationship, but understanding it is important because it reveals some very important things about the movement to ban flag burning and desecration.

Censorship Envy: Breaking the First Amendment Truce
If Congress should have the power to ban the physical desecration of the American flag, why shouldn't it also have the power to ban physical desecration of other symbols that people hold dear? That's not a rhetorical question: if the Constitution is amended to give Congress power to ban flag burning and desecration, people who are offended at the desecration of other symbols may start demanding accommodation. How should they be answered?

The American Flag as Symbol: But a Symbol of What?
Humans could not exist without symbols. These representations of objects and concepts allow us to explore relationships between things and ideas in ways not otherwise possible. The American flag is of course a symbol, but a symbol of what? The answers to these questions are, I believe, at the heart of debates between supporters and opponents of laws outlawing burning or desecration of the American flag.

American Flag as Religious Icon
Discussions of efforts to amend the Constitution typically focus on the desire to ban burning the American flag, but current and past proposals have included criminalizing 'physical desecration' of the American flag. Desecration is defined as violating the 'sacredness' of something. Something is 'sacred' when it is 'holy' or 'worthy of worship, religious veneration.' Thus, efforts to ban the desecration of the American flag are efforts to transform it into an object of religious worship.

American Flag Timeline: Flag Desecration, Flag Burning, Pledge of Allegiance
This chronological history of the American flag outlines major events related to use of the flag as a quasi-religious symbol. The focus of this timeline are efforts to protect the American flag from desecration and burning, making a crime out of using the American flag in advertisements, and the blending of patriotism with Christianity by transforming the Pledge of Allegiance into an expression of religious beliefs.

If Flag Desecration is a Crime, What is Prohibited?
Attempts to ban flag desecration, either through statute or through constitutional amendment, would ban much more than most people seem to realize. Usually people only think about trying to stop burning the American flag, but the truth is that past and current laws against flag desecration cover far more than just burning the flag. Perhaps if people thought more about just what they are outlawing, they wouldn't be so quick to support flag desecration bans.