Cord Byrd: “we Americans are patriotic, and there are few acts more deeply offensive to us than the willful destruction of our flag.…”

“we Americans are patriotic, and there are few acts more deeply offensive to us than the willful destruction of our flag. The flag, after all, is a unique symbol of national unity and a powerful source of national pride. But the flag does not just represent the country and its history; in a very real sense it is a part of that history. Like the Constitution, the flag was handed down to us by the country's Founding Fathers, for it was the Second Continental Congress that, in 1777, established the Stars and Stripes as the national flag. From Tripoli in 1805 to Iwo Jima in 1945 to the Moon in 1969, the flag has been raised to commemorate some of America's proudest moments. Millions of American men and women have marched off to battle behind that flag. I see the flag there. It is just to the right of the Presiding Officer here in the Chamber. What a beautiful sight--that flag! Millions more have sworn allegiance to the flag and 'to the republic for which it stands.' And, while historians may dispute this point, schoolchildren to this day are taught to revere Betsy Ross for having sewn the first flag. Anyone who doubts either the flag's place in the country's history or the tremendous emotional ties that it inspires needs only to listen to the words of our national anthem, in which Francis Scott Key recalls with pride the sight of the Stars and Stripes flying proudly over Fort McHenry after a heavy bombing by British forces in 1814.…”