The American Flag: 36 USC: S301
Offline Having served in the us military and scouts, I have been through countless honor guard details for the raising and lowering of the US flag.
Yesterday I went to Disney and happened to be near the plaza while they played the stars and stripes during the lowering of the flag.
We stopped briefly and talked a little bit about the flag. Various people through out the plaza were walking, talking, ignoring, standing facing the flag, some saluting, some with hands over their heart, etc.
Before the flag was completely folded we moved on and made our way to a store. I could hear several people make comments about the others in the plaza not following the rules and regulations, blah blah.
For those of you not familiar with 36 USC:S301 here it is below:
(b) Conduct During Playing.— During a rendition of the national anthem—
(1) when the flag is displayed—(A) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note;(B) members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and(C) all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and(2) when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed.
Now I have a lot of respect for most military people. Many gave their lives and limbs for various causes and that can never be repaid.
However, I have no respect for the flag. It's a piece of cloth and hold no value with me, even symbolic. Those days of being a hard core patriot are long gone and I know more about our government now so I see the flag as a shield for those who wish to use it for their political gain.
I don't believe that foreigners need to follow the regulations either. They have no requirements to do so.
Personally, I find this 36 USC:S301 unconstitutional. It can't possibility be enforced as it is more of an opinion than any thing else.
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It can't be enforced because there is no punishment associated with it, so it basically is just an opinion. It is the section of code that declares official holidays and stupid shit like cancer month or poison prevention week or national prayer day and outlines our national tree and flower (oak and rose) Not sure why the fuck we need a national tree or flower but I'm sure tons of people were relieved when Reagan signed the law making the rose our official flower. To think we went over 200 years without one!?! Amazing we survived.
Since there is no punishment it is constitutional. State laws regarding the treatment of the flag have mostly been struck down however several states continue to have laws against changing the words in the national anthem, dancing during the national anthem or requiring the recitation of the pledge of allegiance that probably would be found unconstitutional, but since no one has been charged with them in recent times the laws never found their way to the court.
So I say next time you are at the ball game do a jig during the national anthem and improvise a little, maybe a cop will decide to enforce the law and you can have your 15 minutes of fame in the supreme court. I'm sure glad no one wants to take away our freedom.
The sections of title 36 that make "In god we trust" our official motto and create a national prayer day might have some small chance of going down to a supreme court challenge, but there really are bigger fish to fry.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
When you say things like this it makes it hard for me to hate you. But at least we have that, and no Tebow to bother our respective teams.
Evolution was around before our boarders and will be around after they change and after we die. Someone has to unfortunately pick u a gun in the military otherwise we would be at the mercy of our enemies, so in that sense I do value service, but I will never value blind loyalty to a flag or my government. Loyalty without the check of questioning is asking to become a lemming, and lemmings in our species history often do horrible shit .
On a related note it is just as stupid when politicians wear flag pins because others accuse them of not being patriotic. The constitution is what maters in protecting the common law WE live under. Our flag could have a frog on it or a pink unicorn or the word "fuck" on it and it is still just a flag. Our laws that prevent us from becoming a fascist state are what matters.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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