I really think it is time to protect our national symbols from being defaced, including, the use of any commercial or PRIVATE use of their images.
No commercial venue should have any advantage over any other commercial venue by some kind of competition over whom is a greater patriot.
That means protecting symbolic ships, such as the USS Constitution. People using those symbols in protest should be prosecuted for civil disobedience with substantial penalities to prevent such incidents.
The 'idea' that the Religous Right and the Republican Party can 'cherry pick' issues of patriotism based on self-righteous values is an attack against our USA Constitution. They engage in commerical promotion of their religion based on patriot symbols.
That is the Kool Aid they drink.
Their Kool Aid is a mixture of religion and politics.
They make patriotism a religious event. They are wrong. They are misguided and it is deliberate. It's all about money, regardless, of their non-profit status. James Dobson is among those that would like to dismantle the USA Constitution to bring the country under his value system. He does it in the name of God. The best Dobson has is the Bible to help him bring his message to the people. I don't recall the USA being mentioned in the Bible as a place where God has domain. Religion, REGARDLESS, the country belongs in the four walls of a home, not under the capital dome. It is called PRIVACY and if the churches in the USA continue to insist on being a part of the government they should loss their 'status' of sanctuary.
I believe it is dangerous to allow the mixture of religious fervor and national symbols. That includes the American Bald Eagle. What occured between the years of 2000 and 2008 is a travesty of liberty and abuses the rights of every American. Those in power during years of absurd values can't handle their loss of power and want it returned to them again. They don't care about a loss, so much as they can get the power back. They'll do it all over again.
Political venues will have to obtain permission for the use of national symbols and then only when events deserving the flag or otherwise there to be displayed. Our national symbols should not be used as weapons against our Constitution, our national security or any human rights values.
