To the editor:

Afghanistan is falling into anarchy, and the Taliban is reasserting itself. Iraq, for lack of better words is “Mission Incomplete,” and Congress is worried about two individuals of the same sex living together.

I watched in shock the election-year debate about the proposed amendment to the Constitution to prevent any so-called desecration of the flag.

You cannot pass a law requiring people to love and respect a flag. The flag is only the symbol of the country it represents.

The flag was used to identify and guide troops on the battlefield and ships at sea; there is nothing “holy” about a flag. No one should die for a flag; they may fight and die for their nation, but not for a flag.

Nazi Germany had laws against desecration of the flag and so did fascist Italy. Today, these laws are found in almost every tyrannical government or nation on this planet where human rights mean nothing.

If we passed an amendment to the Constitution of the United States against desecration of the flag (a symbol), we can place ourselves among an elite group of countries where a symbol, a flag, will take precedence over the rights of the people it represents.

Bruce Johanning,

Lawrence