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To The Republic For Which It Stands

While the smoke from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was still swirling, Americans and friends of Americans responded with patriotic fervor. Suddenly, the Stars and Stripes were everywhere.

The aftermath of September 11 provided a new impetus for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to give Congress the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the U.S. flag. This has been an emotional issue since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991 ruled that burning the American flag was a form of free speech and thus protected by the First Amendment. When the nation itself was desecrated, protecting the flagthe symbol of the nationtook on an even greater importance. On June 3, 2003, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the amendment by more than the two-thirds needed. There is said to be sentiment in virtually all 50 state legislatures to pass the amendment, if it can get through the Senate, which for years has been the roadblock to the measure, and is expected to be again.

While you cannot find a lawmaker anywhere who thinks that burning or otherwise desecrating the flag is anything less than a despicable act, opponents of the measure say that protecting free speechno matter how unsavoryis the true way to honor the ideals for which the flag stands. It is a compelling argument, but we must disagree. The flag is more than just a piece of cloth. It is the embodiment of the principles of freedom and democracy and the rights that we hold dear. In our view, as individual citizens of the United States, the flag deserves special protection.

With the outpouring of patriotic sentiment in the past two years came a skyrocketing demand for flagsand with it a disturbing trend. Overwhelmed by the demand, domestic flag makers struggled to keep up. Retailers turned to foreign sources, including China, to obtain flags.

According the U.S. Census Bureau, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags in 2001 was $51.7 million, just over half ($29.7 million) was for U.S. flags from China. In 2002, demand for flags fell, and the value of imported flags was down to $7.9 million, with $5.2 million of this figure going to Chinese-made flags. An organization called the National Flag Foundation reports that foreign-made flags account for about 10 percent of the U.S. market, with many flags sold on the street or smaller novelty flags being most likely to be imported from China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore or Japan.

As President George W. Bush once said, "More and more of our imports come from overseas." We are not making this up.

While Congress is rightly concerned with burning or otherwise defacing the symbol of the United States, is anyone paying attention to the fact that more and more of that very same symbol is being made overseas, especially in a country that openly brags about its rock bottom labor costs?

There is more than one way to desecrate the flag.

The flag is dishonored when we take jobs away from our own people in order to line the pockets of profiteers and heap more suffering on exploited workers. The flag is undermined when American leaders seem to care so little about the nations own industrial base that they wont even make sure that its most precious embodiment is produced here.

If the Senate takes up the amendment, it should add a provision requiring that all U.S. flags, from the largest to the smallest, be made in the U.S.A. No exceptions.

And they dont even need to use the Constitutional amendment to make it happen. Congress can pass such a law now. States can pass laws requiring that all flags sold within their borders be domestically produced.

Talk about symbolism. Requiring that all forms of Old Glory be made within the nations borders would send a signal that we might again be serious about reversing its industrial decline. It would draw at least one line against the steady erosion of jobs and the displacement of communities caused by closed plants. It would say that we care enough to protect at least the one thing that stands for our national ideals.

If our leaders cant even muster the strength or the will to take one simple step to protect the honor of the Stars and Stripes, then we have a lot more to worry about than those who would burn the flag.

A note to our Canadian members: We wrote this column speaking as citizens of the United States addressing an issue specific to the United States (flag protection), but encompassing a broader labor issue (protection of the domestic industrial base). We do not profess to speak for our Canadian brothers and sisters on the issue of manufacture of the Maple Leaf within Canadas borders. That is a matter left to the judgment of our proud and patriotic Canadian members. We would note, however, that while Canada enjoys an overall trade surplus, its trade deficit with China has reached 1.1 billion Canadian dollarscause for long-term concern.

Ed Hill
International President