Orrin Hatch: “it is with great honor and reverence that I rise today with my friend and colleague, Senator Cleland, to introduce a…”

“it is with great honor and reverence that I rise today with my friend and colleague, Senator Cleland, to introduce a bipartisan constitutional amendment to permit Congress to enact legislation prohibiting the physical desecration of the American flag. The American flag serves as a symbol of our great nation. The flag represents our country in a way nothing else can; it represents the common bond shared by an otherwise diverse people. Whatever our differences of party, race, religion, or socio-economic status, the flag reminds us that we are very much one people, united in a shared destiny, bonded in a common faith in our nation. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens reminded us of the significance of our unique emblem when he wrote: A country's flag is a symbol of more than nationhood and national unity. It also signifies the ideas that characterize the society that has chosen that emblem as well as the special history that has animated the growth and power of those ideas. . . . So it is with the American flag. It is more than a proud symbol of the courage, the determination, and the gifts of a nation that transformed 13 fledgling colonies into a world power. It is a symbol of freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance, and of goodwill for other peoples who share our aspirations. Throughout our history, the flag has captured the hearts and minds of school teachers, construction workers, police officers, grandmothers, and public servants.…”