Political Quotes

“Mr. President, tomorrow is Flag Day and I am proud to be joined by 21 of my colleagues in introducing an amendment to the Constitution giving Congress power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States. At a time when many issues divide us, the flag to which we pledge allegiance ought to be one thing that unites us. On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution designating the design of the flag of the United States. President Woodrow Wilson first issued a proclamation in 1916 officially establishing June 14 as Flag Day and Congress did so by statute in 1949. States began adopting laws protecting the American flag in the late 19th century and every state had adopted such a law by 1932. Congress adopted the Federal Flag Code in 1942 providing uniform guidelines for displaying the flag and in 1968 enacted the Federal Flag Protection Act. We have, as they say, come a long way--but not in a good direction. Gregory Johnson, a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, was prosecuted under State law for torching an American flag at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas. Five years later, in Texas v. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the State flag protection law violated the First Amendment. Congress quickly revised the Flag Protection Act but in United States v. Eichman, the Supreme Court held in 1990 that it too violated the First Amendment.…”