Taking the heat

Reports abounded this week of the "Arab street" rising up from Beirut to Basra to burn the Danish flag. What, many wondered, is so rotten these days with the state of Denmark? But instead of discussing Islam's absolute prohibition on picturing the prophet and a Danish newspaper's refusal to abide by that standard, I would prefer to discuss the topic of flag burning \nitself. \nAs this contentious debate is concerned within the United States, two positions can usually be detected. There is the left-wing insistence that a constitutional amendment banning flag burning would "ravage the Constitution." But the First Amendment provides for the freedom of speech, not expression. Then there is the conservative view that purports to be a defense of the flag while showing little faith in it. I oppose the letter of the former argument and the spirit of the latter. I would argue that Old Glory is hardly so ragged a flag that it could be burned out of existence by combustion.\nA torched American banner is not a threat to Americans' liberty. Those who would torch it are. We cannot possibly stop flag burning, and, I must ask, who would wish to? Many foreign fanatics and Western cultural elites detest it. Good-hearted Americans worship it. Either way, it is a symbol that rarely produces nonaligned status. Who else in the world can claim such a noble crest of what their flag stands for, and stands against? Which red-blooded American would have it any other way?\nWe forget that the first stanza of Francis Scott Key's "Defense of Ft. McHenry," the poem more commonly known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" ends with a question: "O! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave/O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?" People tamper with the flag that inspired that anthem at their peril. Not because it is illegal or unconstitutional, but because it is too potent a force for them. By all means, let them try to dismember it. The only real danger is if Americans deem it too fragile to withstand the assault, and thus tamper with it themselves. \nI prefer this "go ahead, make my day" approach to either a "my liberty will rot if the flag cannot be set on fire" or a holier-than-thou "you shall not burn my flag" one. That means that the American flag will occasionally be put to the torch. The latter camp proclaims to be distressed by the heat of our burning flag. My rejoinder to that is simple. More distressing would be the moment the flag does not inspire the pure rage to have it burned. \nWhile the world has grown quite used to seeing the Old Glory go up in flames amid chants assailing "the Great Satan," I'd venture to say that few expected the same fate to befall the flag of Denmark. I don't know about the Danes, but as for me, an angry mob setting fire to a flag to which I have long pledged my allegiance is not an especially troubling spectacle. Perhaps here, I have the benefit of knowing that the Stars and Stripes can well take the heat.